We saw a sunspot on February 11-13, then it was gone. Typical of sunspots recently, it was only seen briefly; this one was a relic of Solar Cycle 23, according to its magnetic signature. For at least a couple of years now, we've been expecting Solar Cycle 23 to bottom out and new Solar Cycle 24 spots to emerge, but the sunspot minimum drags on. Most projections are based on past cycle activity, so according to the timing of past solar minimums, we keep thinking surely soon there will be an explosion of new solar activity, but the Sun seems to tease us. Sunspot numbers for February 12-18 were 11, 11, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 3.1. The 10.7 cm flux was 69.7, 70.1, 70.1, 69.6, 69.5, 70.6 and 69.8 with a mean of 69.9. The estimated planetary A indices were 4, 3, 14, 10, 3, 1 and 2 with a mean of 5.3. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 1, 2, 9, 6, 2, 1 and 1 with a mean of 3.1.
More...
More...