"SONOGRAMS OF THE SUN"

Sounds like some avant garde music group. Or another follow-on to Bimbos of the Death Sun¹.

SONOGRAMS OF THE SUN EXPLAIN MYSTERY OF THE MISSING SUNSPOTS

Boulder, Colorado -- Scientists from the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Tucson, Arizona, have discovered that a solar jet stream deep inside the Sun is migrating slower than usual through the star's interior, giving rise to the current lack of sunspots and low solar activity, according to work being presented this week at the meeting of the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society
(AAS/SPD).

The Sun normally undergoes an eleven-year cycle of magnetic activity related to sunspots, solar flares, and the interplanetary storms called "CMEs"². The current "solar minimum" quiet period has been unusually long and deep, confounding scientists who hope to understand the origins of space weather and the Sun's magnetic field.

The web page linked to has some pretty pictures that probably mean a lot more to astronomers and physicists than to me.

Not that knowing what causes a dearth of sun spots means we know what causes that, or that we can do anything about it...

H/T to eham.

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1. A mystery novel set at a Science Fiction convention. A true hoot, unless you're a trufan with no sense of humor whatsoever. May be used by some fen to judge same in others.

2. CME=Coronal Mass Ejection, discussed in my previous post Convergence.