[SADXA] from the KB6NU blog

[GAIL E PETERSON]

No Sunspots for Decades?


Posted: 06 Oct 2010 11:51 AM PDT
Two
 solar scientists—Matthew Penn and William Livingston, with the National
 Solar Observatory (NSO) in Tucson, Arizona—are predicting that by 2016 there may be no remaining sunspots,
 and the sun may stay spotless for several decades.  They’re basing 
their prediction on the measurement of the magnetic field strength of 
1,500 sunspots since 1990. What they have found is that the average 
strength of the magnetic fields is declining. When the magnetic field 
strength falls below a particular value, sunspots are unable to form.