MWM: This source is pretty lame. Vencore doesn't know its "Sun". It makes statements which are simply false or very misleading. Go here and scroll through Alvestad's perspective. This astrophysicist does this daily update for the pure love of it and knows the Sun succinctly better than any other source I have found. http://www.solen.info/solar/index.html In short, this Sun is not blank if you look closely enough, a lot of activity is there, and this Sun is not the lowest in activity in a 100 years. Look at Cycle 16 during the 30's which you can access from his index.