Professor Horace Smith describes: Ordinarily, sunspots and solar activity wax and wane in an eleven year cycle. Recently, we have been in a deep minimum of solar activity, and sunspots have been few and far between. There are signs, however, that the sun is finally emerging from this spell of inactivity. To what extent can the long term behavior of solar activity be predicted? Can we predict the size and timing of the next solar maximum? And what are the implications of solar activity for life on Earth, and for satellites and astronauts in space?

Location:	Abrams Planetarium [map]
Price:	free
Sponsor:	Dept. of Physics/Astronomy and Abrams Planetarium
Contact:	Mary Gowans gowans@msu.edu 517-355-4676
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