Sun goes 'quiet' after recent activity
The sun appears to be taking a nap of sorts, and scientists are wondering where all the sunspots go?
Space weather calls it the "All Quiet Event," and according to the site's doctor, Tony Phillips, on July 17th, there were no sunspots at all. On the 18th, this photo shows only three tiny sunspots.
This sunspot die-off comes after a quote, "Whole Slew" of sunspots from July 1st through the 10th, according to NASA.
So, should we be worried? "It is weird, but it's not super weird," Phillips writes. "To have a spotless day during solar maximum is odd, but then again, this solar maximum we are in has been very wimpy."
The solar maximum is a period of greatest solar activity in the 11-year solar cycle.
Sunspots are regions of intense magnetic activity. No one knows how long this quiet period will last.
Phillips says, "You just can't predict the sun."
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