SOHO - Solar and Heliopheric Observatory

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/

1. When are there many sun spots?
2. When are there few or no sun spots?
3. What is solar minimum?
4, What is solar maximum?
5. What effect does the Sun have on our weather?
6. Why is the Sun called a variable star?

These questions and their answers are important to all of us because they give us insight into the effect our star has on us. We are now frequently told about global warming and they want us to think that the primary cause is human activity. I'm not one to cause you to think that our human activities do not have a global effect. I'm sure that they do. However the effect of the Sun has a greater effect.

The lack of sunspots over many months or years indicate that we are in solar minimum. You cannot count sunspots without expensive technology, but you do have SOLO and you can get to SOLO quickly from Lessonplans.com. From there, you can safely see the Sun and count sunspots. I suggest that you and your students do it frequently and answer the about questions. These questions lead to other valuable insights.