Solar Cycle Restarts

NASA reports that we are finally emerging from one of the quietest solar minima on record and beginning a new cycle of increased solar activity. The sun goes through a general eleven-year cycle of activity in which sunspots, flares, and general solar activity increases to a maximum and then decreases to nearly no activity. The recent solar minimum has been one of the calmest observed. Solar activity is responsible for such phenomena as the auroras, and must be monitored becaues of its effect on satellites and spacecraft. For more information on solar cycles, go here.