Now that the Sun has reappeared after weeks of cloud, I've been able to look for sunspots from my lab window again. If you go back to the archive post you'll see how I am safely projecting the view from binoculars onto a piece of paper. I am hoping to see darker spots on the bright image of the Sun.
There are no sunspots at the moment.
Sunspots are colder spots on the surface of the Sun caused by magnetic anomalies that turn off the convection of hot gases inside the Sun. When I say colder, I mean 4000 degrees instead of over 5000 degrees.
There was a famous period of no sunspots in the late 1600s which is called the Maunder Minimum. It coincided with really bad winters that they called the mini Ice Age. I wonder if the lack of sunspots is connected with our awful winter. Sunspots work on roughly an 11 year cycle so there should be plenty to see in the next few years.
I got most of my information from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunspots
