Sunspots Abruptly Disappear

From Watts Up With That?

Via Spaceweather.com

After 4 years of non-stop sunspot activity, the face of the sun is suddenly blank–no sunspots. The first spotless days since 2022 herald the distant approach of a new Solar Minimum.

Click on this image to magnify it and take a careful look around the solar disk. Can you find any sunspots? 

This week has brought the first “spotless days” since 2022. So far, Feb. 22nd, Feb. 23rd, and Feb 24th have had completely blank suns. This breaks an uninterrupted 4 years of non-stop sunspot activity.

What does this mean? It’s an early warning of Solar Minimum, the low point of the 11-year solar cycle. During years around Solar Minimum, whole months can go by without a single sunspot, racking up dozens of spotless days in a row. Between 2018 and 2020 (the last Solar Minimum) there were more than 700 spotless days in total. You can find the daily counts right here on Spaceweather.com. The Current Spotless Stretch is 3 days.

Solar Cycle 25 still has years of life left in it. However, these spotless days tell us that the current cycle is waning. Sunspots will be back–probably tomorrow–but this week is a preview of things to come.