Study: The sun is not producing sunspots

BOZEMAN, Mont., June 12 (UPI) -- Scientists attending a U.S. international solar conference say the sun has stopped producing sunspots for the past couple of years.

Although periods of solar inactivity are normal, the researchers said the current dormant period has gone on longer than usual.

The anomaly was a major point of discussion for approximately 100 scientists from Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and North America who attended last week's solar conference at Montana State University.

Dana Longcope, a solar physicist at Montana State University, said the sun usually operates on an 11-year cycle with maximum solar activity occurring in the middle of the cycle. Minimum activity generally occurs as the cycles change. Solar activity refers to phenomena such as sunspots, solar flares and solar eruptions that, together, can disrupt satellites in space and technology on Earth.

The next cycle is just beginning and is expected to reach its peak sometime around 2012. But currently the sun is as inactive as it was two years ago and scientists said they aren't sure why.

They said the sun once went 50 years without producing sunspots and that period coincided with a little ice age on Earth that lasted from 1650 to 1700.