THE SUN IS BLANK AGAIN: The sunspot number is zero again following the departure of sunspot complex AR2565-AR2567 on Monday.  Today's photo from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a solar disk that is completely blank:

Blank suns are a sign that Solar Maximum is over and Solar Minimum is coming--a natural transition of the 11-year sunspot cycle. Contrary to popular belief, however, Solar Minimum is not boring.  It brings a time of enhanced cosmic rays, extra sprites and elves, a collapsing ionosphere and accumulating space junk. With action like that, who needs solar flares?

It's worth noting that Solar Minimum isn't here yet. Indeed, only one half of the sun is blank. Sunspot complex AR2565-AR2567 still exists on the farside of the sun, and it could return ~10 days from now when the sun's rotation spins those dark cores back around in our direction. Until then, stay tuned for blank suns

 http://spaceweather.com/