Sun's Dead Face Nothing Out of the Ordinary, Researchers Say
	The Sun continues its relatively long period of inactivity, although while some claim that this lengthy phase without sunspots is somehow unusual, NASA researchers argue that the sun is in fact behaving normally and this period of calm is anything but long. "The sun is now near the low point of its 11-year activity cycle. We call this 'Solar Minimum.' It is the period of quiet that separates one Solar Max from another," ... [read more >>]
	11 July 2008, 10:54GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Weird Sunspots Appear on the Sun's Surface
	The 24th Solar Cycle is believed to have begun a few weeks ago with the appearance of the first sunspot on the surface of the Sun, however the solar activity was relatively calm until now. This week, European Space Agency's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory detected a group of three sunspots which have appeared recently and seem to evolve at a rapid speed. Additional measurements with SOHO revealed something even more interesting in ... [read more >>]
	27 March 2008, 08:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The 24th Solar Cycle Officially Began
	On December 11 last year, the SOHO spacecraft observed a small magnetic knot on the surface of the Sun. However, no visible sunspots have been detected lately, spots that are usually associated with the beginning of a new solar cycle. Although the sunspots were missing, scientists rushed to predict that the 24th solar cycle will shortly begin. No sooner said and done, as The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announc ... [read more >>]
	07 January 2008, 02:35GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Amazing Trilobate Found on the Sun!
	This has left the astronomers deeply amazed. The data gathered by the Japanese Space Agency's Hinode spacecraft, launched in September 2006 for investigating sunspots and solar storms revealed surprising images. Saku Tsuneta, Hinode's chief scientist at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo, presented last week a movie of sunspot 10926 breaking through the turbulent surface of the sun in an audience of about ... [read more >>]
	20 September 2007, 05:52GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

New Striking Video of Major Solar Flare
	One of the most spectacular solar flares has been recorded on film with extreme details by the Japanese Hinode satellite and helped scientists see what's behind the colossal eruption. A solar flare is a violent explosion in the Sun's atmosphere with an energy equivalent to a billion megatons, traveling normally at about 1 million km per hour (about 0.05% the speed of light), though sometimes much faster. The flares have been ... [read more >>]
	26 April 2007, 02:51GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia