NASA - Deep Solar Minimum

NASA describe the sunspot cycle as being 'a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower'.

The NASA story quotes David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center as saying "This is the quietest sun we've seen in almost a century".

After World War II, astronomers began keeping records of the sun's brightness at radio wavelengths. Records of 10.7 cm flux extend back all the way to the early 1950s. Radio telescopes are now recording the dimmest "radio sun" since 1955.

Some researchers believe that the lessening of radio emissions is an indication of weakness in the sun's global magnetic field. No one is certain, however, because the source of these long-monitored radio emissions is not fully understood.

Read the full NASA Story: 'Deep Solar Minimum' April 1, 2009 at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/
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