>NASA plot of sunspot activity.
>Updated monthly.
>
>         http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/index.html
>
>I've been saving these each month for some months now and
>it's been interesting to see the activity continue to drop
>towards zero while the predictions gamely urge it to
>splutter into life.
>
>Maunder minimum in the wings, or just a hiccup. Stay tuned,
>could be interesting.

Some are suggesting a double minimum, as has occurred before. IMHO 
it's tough to predict how the Sun should behave, we only have two 
dozen solar cycles worth of data to work with - a few centuries out 
of the 5 billion year age of the Sun.

NASA/etc have been very public in saying that the Sun is acting 
normally, everything is fine, nothing to see here folks, move along. 
Most likely to calm fears that we are headed into a Maunder or Dalton 
minimum.  I also would not be surprised if  some of it is to counter 
statements that the reduced solar activity is coinciding with a drop 
in global temperatures, which might lead some to suspect that man 
made global warming is not all it is claimed to be, which could have 
a negative impact on government climate research funding ;-)

FWIW, a 2006 forecast from a new solar model is doing pretty well right now:
http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/2006-arlp010.html


-- 

---
Chris Smolinski
Black Cat Systems
http://www.blackcatsystems.com
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