Good Or Bad News?

ScienceDaily (Jun. 9, 2008) — The sun has been lying low for the past couple of years, producing no sunspots and giving a break to satellites.

The scientists said periods of inactivity are normal for the sun, but this period has gone on longer than usual.

"It continues to be dead," said Saku Tsuneta with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, program manager for the Hinode solar mission. "That's a small concern, a very small concern."

In the past, the sun once went 50 years without producing sunspots. That period, from approximately 1650 to 1700, occurred during the middle of a little ice age on Earth that lasted from as early as the mid-15th century to as late as the mid-19th century.

So, is this potentially good news or bad news? Good news in the sense that global warming is coming to an end, or bad news in the sense that a new mini-ice age is headed our way?

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