http://www.solarcycle24.com/rss/feed.xml RSS Feed Updates. en-us A pair of sunspot groups have formed on the visible solar disk. A new region which is located in the northern hemisphere towards the eastern limb was numbered 1054 on Wednesday. Meanwhile in the southern hemisphere, a new region quickly formed during the later part of Wednesday and should be numbered 1055 on Thursday. There will be a chance for B-Class flares and perhaps a small chance for a C-Class flare. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:52:00 EST Solar activity remains low. Sunspot 1046 and 1048 are both small and do not pose a chance for strong solar flares. The new region I reported on Tuesday evening has formed some sunspots as you can see in the image below. This region should be numbered 1049 on Wednesday. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:33:00 EST Out of nowhere Sunspot 1046 produced a strong M8.3 Solar flare Friday morning which is now the largest flare of Cycle 24. An R2 Radio Blackout did take place. The image is below and more updates to follow. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:57:00 EST Solar Update - Solar activity has been moderate the past 24 hours with several M-Class flares taking place. The largest of which was an M4 event at 07:43 UTC Monday. Sunspot 1045 remains an impressive sunspot cluster with a magnetic beta-gamma-delta configuration, but it now looks like it may be starting to thin out somewhat. There will remain the chance for M-Class flares and a 15% chance of an X-Class event. Any such flare could produce earth directed Coronal Mass Ejections. Another new sunspot was numbered on Monday. Sunspot 1047 is located in the southern hemisphere towards the eastern limb. Elsewhere Sunspot 1046 in the northern hemisphere remains quiet. Solar Flux + Sunspot # - The solar flux reached a high of 95.5 with a daily average of 94 on Monday. This is a new record for Cycle 24. The sunspot number for Monday was 71. This is also a new record. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Mon, 8 Feb 2010 23:50:00 EST Largest Flare of Cycle 24 - Three M-Flares including an M6.4 have taken place around Sunspot 1045. The flare at 03:19 UTC Sunday is the largest solar flare of Cycle 24 thus far. Any earth directed explosions could trigger geomagnetic storming. The latest blast did trigger a R2 Radio blackout. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sat, 6 Feb 2010 23:50:00 EST Sunspots are now starting to pop up in many areas on the visible solar disk. There is probably another sunspot hiding on the eastern limb as well. Sunspot 1043 remains a single sunspot. New Sunspot 1044 which formed just below 1043 has vanished for the time being. A few new sunspots formed on Friday evening. Click on the image below. There will be a small (30%) chance for minor geomagnetic storming around Feb 7 because of a Coronal Hole solar wind stream flowing from the sun as well as possible effects due to a small CME on Feb 2. Stay Tuned. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 5 Feb 2010 23:50:00 EST Sunspot 1043 which formed on Saturday has been fairly quiet. It has produced some B-Class flares and there will be a slight chance of a C-Class flare. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:20:00 EST Solar activity has been very low the past 24 hours. Sunspot 1042 in the north is approaching the western limb. Sunspot 1041 in the south has been quiet as well. There will continue to be a chance for B-Class flares and perhaps a C-Class flare. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:55:00 EST The new sunspot that formed in the northern hemisphere Friday morning was numbered 1042. It did show some growth during the day. Sunspot 1041 in the southern hemisphere has produced B-Class flare activity. There will remain a chance for C-Class flares and a slight chance for an M-Class event. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:42:00 EST M2.3 Flare - The first M-Class flare of Cycle 24 has taken place at 13:41 UTC around the new region about to rotate into view on the Eastern Limb. Several C-Class flares have taken place as well. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:49:00 EST What appears to be a solar flare has taken place off the eastern limb. If there is a sunspot hiding on the limb, it will rotate into view by next weekend. Sunspot 1040 is in a state of decay as it makes its way towards the western limb of the sun. There is still a chance for B-Class flares and a smaller chance of C-Class flares. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:51:00 EST A C1.0 solar flare has taken place around Sunspot 1040 this morning. Sunspot 1040 has shown minor growth and is capable of producing C-Class flares. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sat, 9 Jan 2010 10:30:00 EST Sunspot 1039 continues to persist as it approaches the western limb of the sun. Early Saturday, It did produce a C1.0 Solar Flare. The December Sunspot Number average was 15.7. This is the highest it has been since March 2008. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sat, 2 Jan 2010 09:03:00 EST The plage region in the southeastern part of the sun is no longer spotless. As you can see in the latest solar images, a new sunspot group has formed. It has been numbered Sunspot 1039 and there is a slight chance for a C-Class flare. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:40:00 EST A C7.2 Solar flare occurred early Tuesday morning at 04:56 UTC. This flare took place around Sunspot 1036 in the southern hemisphere of the sun. Monday marked the 13th day in a row with an official sunspot count. This is currently the longest stretch of Cycle 24. This will go even longer with the new sunspots popping up. Several low level B-Class flares have taken place during the day on Tuesday. There will continue to be a chance for more B-Class and C-Class flare activity. Sunspot 1036 in the southern hemisphere and Sunspot 1038 in the north are currently the only visible regions on the face of the sun. Sunspot 1035 has rotated out of view on the western limb. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:59:00 EST Sunspot 1036 and 1037 numbered - A small new sunspot group has formed in the southern hemisphere of the sun on Saturday morning. There is also the eastern limb region which appears to have also formed a few tiny spots. Sunspot 1035 produced a few C-Class solar flares, the biggest of which was a C7.6 event on Friday afternoon. This is now the largest X-Ray enhancement of Cycle 24 up until this update. There will continue to be a chance for an isolated C-Class flare. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:44:00 EST Sunspot 1035 has produced a few C-Class solar flares, the biggest of which was a C7.6 event on Friday afternoon. This is now the largest X-Ray enhancement of Cycle 24 up until this update. There will continue to be a chance for more C-Class flares and perhaps a smaller chance for an M-Class event. The plage region that rotated onto the Eastern Limb is currently spotless. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 18 Dec 2009 22:00:00 EST The largest Solar Flare of Cycle 24 thus far took place early Wednesday morning. It registered C5.3 on the flare scale. It is small in comparison to flares at solar max, however it is a good sign nonetheless. Sunspot 1035 is an impressive sunspot cluster consisting of around 20 spots. There will remain a chance for B-Class and perhaps more C-Class flares. The solar flux reached 82 on Tuesday. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:30:00 EST A new sunspot group has formed north of sunspot 1034. The X-Ray Flux shows a greater chance for B-Class flares and perhaps a smaller chance for a C-Class event. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Mon, 14 Dec 2009 04:05:00 EST Two new sunspot groups were numbered on Wednesday. Sunspot 1032 has formed within the old region 1029 from the last solar rotation. This spot group is very small at the moment. Sunspot 1033 formed towards the eastern limb and is better organized. There will be a chance for B-Class solar flares. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:45:00 EST The small new sunspot that formed late yesterday was numbered 1031 today. There is no chance for strong solar flares. Former sunspot 1029 remains a spotless plage. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:25:00 EST Region 1030 has reformed and consisted of 4 sunspots on Monday. This region should not create any strong solar flares. Also... in the new STEREO Behind images you can see old Sunspot 1029 on the return trip back into view. Will this region still have a sunspot? We will know more in about a week. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Mon, 9 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST Several low level C-Class flares have taken place around Sunspot 1029 in the past 24 hours. There will remain a chance for C-class and perhaps an M-Class flare. Sunspot 1029 has grown in size and is a pretty impressive sunspot cluster for Cycle 24. The solar flux has reached 81 today which is yet again a new record for Cycle 24. This is the highest Flux reading since March 2008 when Cycle 23 sunspots were present on the sun. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:00:00 EST A new sunspot has formed in the northern hemisphere. It is not very high in latitude, but it does belong to Cycle 24 because of its magnetic polarity. There have been several mini sunspots and magnetic regions popping up as of late. This new sunspot could be numbered 1029 later today. A minor aurora opening took place on Thursday evening and some AU contacts were made on 6m. Things have since settled down. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:00:00 EST The spotless streak is technically over as Sunspot 1028 was numbered today. There was one tiny sunspot visible in this group located high in latitude in the northern hemisphere. This visible spot has since disappeared. There may be another small region hiding on the eastern limb. You can see in the new STEREO Behind images a bright region soon to rotate into view. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:00:00 EST The sun is currently blank of sunspots. Solar activity will remain at very low levels. Former Sunspot 1026 is now seen in the latest STEREO Behind images. Here is a podcast featuring a Cycle 24 and propagation discussion between G0KYA and K9LA. Check out (http://www.g0kya.blogspot.com/) to visit the G0KYA website to download the podcast. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:00:00 EST Sunspot 1027 expanded in area throughout the day on Monday and consists of atleast 4 sunspots. There will be a chance for B-Class flares. Sunspot 1026 was trying to make a comeback today as well, but is currently spotless. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST At 01:02 UTC a C2.0 solar flare took place around shrinking Sunspot 1026 Sunspot 1026 is suddenly producing B and C class solar flares. More flare activity may be possible. This sunspot continues to slowly lose size. Sunspot 1027 continues to spread out in size. It is a BETA sunspot group with two main sunspots and some smaller ones. This region has not produced any flare activity as of yet. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST Sunspot 1026 has been quiet and is starting to lose some sunspot area. It now consists of a single sunspot. There has been no flare activity since Tuesday evening. Sunspot 1027 which formed early Tuesday in the northern hemisphere is stable and is a BETA sunspot group. It has stopped growing and remains about the same size. There will be a chance for B-Class solar flares within the next 24 hours. The solar flux at 1700 UTC was 76.2 which is another record for Cycle 24, beating the previous record of 75 set yesterday. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:15:00 EST Just as Sunspot 1026 rotates into view on the eastern limb, another new Cycle 24 sunspot is forming. This time it is high in latitude in the northern hemisphere. The magnetogram image is below. A small B3 solar flare took place early Tuesday morning. There will remain a chance for isolated B-Class flares. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Tue, 22 Sep 2009 05:00:00 EST Sunspot 1026 has rotated into view and has produced only one B-Class flare thus far. This sunspot was probably much larger at one point as we have seen it in the Farside images for over a week now. How many days in a row will this sunspot last? My guess is that it will be gone by the middle of the week. I hope I am wrong. It has already persisted for quite some time now. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:00:00 EST Solar activity may rise within the next 48 hours as the possible sunspot hiding on the eastern limb will soon rotate into view. It has been visible for about a week now in STEREO Behind images. Possible B-Class flare activity may now be possible as the X-Ray flux background levels have started to increase. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EST The sun has been blank of official sunspots for 50 days in a row. This is only the 4th time the sun has been blank for atleast 50 days since 1849. The 3rd longest streak on the list is 54 days between February-April 1879. The record is 92 days in 1913. We still have a while to go before we beat the record. Click the link below for all of the spotless day streak records. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:45:00 EST No new sunspots yet, but a big surprise this week with aurora and a geomagnetic storm: Sunspot activity peaked around 0300-0900 UTC on Wednesday July 22, with K index as high as 6. The planetary A index for the day was 24. You can see the K index variation here. One nice result was aurora propagation on 6 meters. A week ago there wasn't any indicator of increased activity. If you go here and click on July 21, you can see that the forecast was modified more than once, but the highest forecast was an A index of only 15. There is a new sunspot trying to emerge today (July 24), but it looks to be from Solar Cycle 23. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/07/24/10979/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:30 EST Finally, some sunspot activity to report -- and not one of those phantom spots that appear one day and vanish the next. Sunspot group 1024 first emerged a week ago on July 3 with a daily sunspot number of 17 and the magnetic signature of a new Solar Cycle 24 spot. Over the next few days, it grew more rapidly and became larger than any sunspot group in the past two years. Today, July 10, it should pass over the Sun's western limb and disappear. Sunspot numbers for July 2-8 were 0, 17, 24, 26, 23, 21 and 18 with a mean of 18.4. The 10.7 cm flux was 66.5, 67.3, 71, 71.6, 68.9, 71.3 and 70.8 with a mean of 69.6. The estimated planetary A indices were 3, 5, 3, 6, 4, 5 and 6 with a mean of 4.6. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 2, 3, 2, 4, 3, 3 and 3 with a mean of 2.9. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/07/10/10957/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00 EST The biggest solar flare of Cycle 24 to date, a C2.7 took place at 0713 UTC on Sunday morning. Sunspot 1024 continues to maintain its size and still shows the strength for B-Class and C-Class solar flares. Saturday's Sunspot number of 24 ties the Cycle 24 record set on October 16, 2008. Even know that seems small, it is atleast a good step forward. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sun, 5 Jul 2009 08:54:00 EST A pair of small B-Class solar flares have taken place from the most likely source, the region in the southern hemisphere. A new image below shows atleast 3 sunpots in the quickly forming group. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 3 Jul 2009 19:35:00 EST Sunspot numbers for June 25-1 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 68, 66.8, 67, 67, 68.5, 68.2 and 67.5 with a mean of 67.6. The estimated planetary A indices were 7, 3, 3, 11, 10, 5 and 4 with a mean of 6.1. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 6, 2, 4, 8, 7, 5 and 3 with a mean of 5. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/07/03/10939/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 3 Jul 2009 15:23:00 EST A larger and new Cycle 24 sunspot appeared on Monday behind the smaller sunspot 1022. This is the first time in the new Cycle 24 that two numbered sunspots have been visible at the same time. The new region does not pose a risk for strong solar flares however. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:10:00 EST bet you have this memorized: "Solar activity was very low throughout the reporting period, and geomagnetic field activity was at quiet levels during most of the reporting period." Enough said? The first sunspot region of Solar Cycle 24 occurred on January 4, 2008. Since then, though, Solar Cycle 24 spots have been few and far between http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/06/19/10896/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:00:00 EST A small new Cycle 24 sunspot has popped up high in latitude in the southern hemisphere of the sun. The image is below. It remains to be seen if this spot will last long enough to fetch a sunspot number. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:59:00 EST That was a nice string of days showing a sunspot -- May 13-19 -- a whole week. Then it was gone, but a few days later on May 23, another Solar Cycle 24 sunspot emerged, this time in our Sun's southern hemisphere. But it was another of those phantom spots. This one actually emerged, and gave us a sunspot number of 13. For that one day it covered 30 10E-6 hemispheres. (10E-6, or 10 to the minus sixth power, is another way of expressing the fraction one-millionth). The next day it was gone. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/05/29/10848/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 29 May 2009 22:00:00 EST Do sunspots matter? Many of us are surprised at how good conditions can be with zero sunspots; the weak solar wind and lack of flares and geomagnetic events likely have something to do with it. Many times during the more active solar periods, sunspots were welcomed, but then some event associated with the higher solar activity would make conditions difficult, disrupt the ionosphere and increase absorption. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/05/22/10831/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Mon, 25 May 2009 17:16:00 EST The new Cycle 24 sunspot that formed yesterday has officially been numbered 1018 by NOAA. This region is very small and struggling to maintain its spots. There is no chance for strong flare activity from this region. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sat, 23 May 2009 17:05:00 EST After weeks of little or no sunspots, it is nice to have something to report: Following multiple false starts, quick-fading spots and knots of magnetic activity that never progressed into actual darkened sunspots, new sunspot group 1017 emerged on Wednesday, May 13. The daily sunspot number was 12; the next day the size of the group approximately doubled, raising the sunspot number to 18. This is a Solar Cycle 24 sunspot group. A week ago, we expected active regions spotted by the STEREO mission would emerge into sunspots over the weekend, but like many others in the recent past, they faded away. The new sunspot this week emerged a few days later. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/05/15/10822/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 15 May 2009 21:04:00 EST NOAA released today their new Cycle 24 prediction and has confirmed what we already pretty much know. The cycle will be the weakest in nearly a century and we will see maximum around May 2013. The monthly sunspot number average at maximum will be around 90. Click the link below for the full story. http://www.spaceweather.com/headlines/y2009/08may_noaaprediction.htm?PHPSESSID=9c1qmjl4b4mfl0v00d2pvm1od5 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 08 May 2009 18:32:00 EST A Solar Cycle 23 spot appeared for two days -- April 29-30 -- in an area that soon rotated out of view. Sunspot numbers were 15 and 12, but for the last seven days, we haven't seen any spots. This may end soon -- we get the advance word because of the STEREO mission, which is gradually able to see more and more of the sun not visible from Earth. On May 5-6, the STEREO B satellite was able to see an eruption from an active region around the eastern edge of the Sun, outside of our view. If sunspots emerge, they will be Solar Cycle 24 spots, due to their relatively high latitude. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/05/08/10810/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 08 May 2009 18:32:00 EST The data at the end of last week's bulletin showed daily sunspot numbers from April 16-22 as six zeros, then 11. In fact, every day was at zero until April 21, when it was 11; it moved again to zero the next day, April 22. We had just as many zero sunspot days -- and only one day with a sunspot -- but we saw the sunspot on Tuesday, April 21, not April 22 http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/05/01/10798/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sat, 02 May 2009 20:30:00 EST Teased again, on Wednesday, April 22 we saw sunspot 1015 fade away, just as it was about to slip over our Sun's western limb. It emerged only briefly, late on April 21, and by Thursday it had disappeared. Sunspot numbers for April 16 through 22 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 11 with a mean of 1.6. The 10.7 cm flux was 69.9, 69.8, 69.9, 70.1, 69.8, 71, and 71.1 with a mean of 70.2. The estimated planetary A indices were 6, 5, 8, 4, 4, 5 and 4 with a mean of 5.1. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 3, 4, 8, 4, 3, 3 and 2 with a mean of 3.9. The outlook for the near term is more of the same, quiet conditions. Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet conditions for April 24-30. The US Air Force and NOAA predict a nice quiet planetary A index of 5 until May 6-9, when they expect to see a planetary A index of 15, 8, 8 and 8. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/04/24/10783/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Sun, 26 Apr 2009 17:10:00 EST Still no sunspots, and again we saw a prediction for slightly higher solar flux slip away. If you go here and click on any forecast prior to April 14, you will see solar flux numbers at 72 predicted for the end of this month. But in the few days since then, any predicted values over 70 have vanished -- including another set of slightly higher numbers in late May. Sunspot numbers for April 9-15 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 70.1, 69.4, 69.3, 69.3, 68.4, 69.4 and 69.4 with a mean of 69.3. The estimated planetary A indices were 12, 8, 9, 8, 4, 2 and 3 with a mean of 6.6. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 9, 6, 7, 4, 3, 1 and 2 with a mean of 4.6. http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2009/04/17/10773/?nc=1 kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Fri, 17 Apr 2009 20:15:00 EST The sun has now for the most part been spotless for forty (40) days. If you take into consideration the mini sunspot that briefly formed in late March which was numbered by SIDC, the spotless streak would be around 22 or so. http://www.solarcycle24.com/index2.htm kevin@solarcycle24.com (Kevin VE3EN) Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:10:00 EST