After a long spell of inactivity the sun appears to be coming out of it's recent slumber.
With a keen interest in this matter I study the SOHO pictures daily for my own peice of mind as we move forward in solar cycle 24. This morning I did my usual check on the website and jumped for joy when I saw
this sunspot captured today.
The sun was expected to pick up activity back in November last year as we came out of the solar minimum then NASA said it was due to kick off in March after a delay but since then we have had a very quiet spell with no activity for a long period (months).
Sun's face virtually spot-free for months
Apparently I have missed a few also that were in October according to the NewScientistSpace site:
New sunspots may signal end of solar dry spell
So, if like me you had concerns about us moving into another quiet period similar to the one experienced between 1645 to 1715 maybe you can breath a sigh of releif again. For more information on this period of time you can read about the Maunder Minimum
here.
For those that are interested, there was even an article recently on a spot being
square, make up your own mind what it could be
Happy days again...(with respect to this at least).
Cheers all
EDIT:
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Homepage