Solar minimum
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NASA SOHO image shows a blank sun without sunspots, an indication of "solar minimum."
It's a quiet sun these days.
We are between sunspot cycles as we begin 2009. And we hit what most sun wathcers regard as "solar minimum" in 2008. In fact 2008 was the least active sunspot year since 1913!
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Astronomers watch an 11 year sunspot cycle that has been very regular since the 1700's. The last peak was in 2001 when there were 150-175 sunspots observed on the sun. 2008 was closer to 6, with a "blank sun" 266 days last year!
The current lull between solar cycle 23 and 24 seems alarming, but experts point out that the low sunspot numbers and duration are very normal between solar cycles. The next cycle is forecast to peak in about 2012. Astronomers are watching for an increase in sunspots in 2009 as we begin the new cycle.
Solar activity does have an impact on our weather and climate. Current thinking from climate experts like Dr. Kerry Emanuel from MIT is that while solar variability does have an impact on the earth's global temperature; human induced greenhouse gasses exert about 5 times the climate forcing effect when compared with solar variability.
That might explain why 2008, the least active sunspot year in the past 95 years, was still the 10th warmest year globally even though it was slightly cooler than the past decade. It will be interesting to see what happens to our global temperatures in the next 5 years as the new solar cycle kicks into thigh gear.
PH