After an unusually long wait, sunspots have begun to return to the solar surface.
People ranging from astronomers & physicists to amateur radio operators and DX'ers waited for the spots to reappear. We went an extraordinarily long two years... stuck at the bottom of the 11-year sunspot cycle.
It may be no coincidence that FM DX'ers in recent days have observed a big uptick in long-distance FM radio reception.
For all our modern technology, it's still rather amazing how LITTLE we know about our Sun, everything from the sunspot cycle itself, to predicting solar flares and other solar ejections, which can zap satellites, power grids, and our vulnerable computerized communications system.
Here's a fairly comprehensive - and easy-to-read - treatment of the return of sunspots from DISCOVER magazine...
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