1
00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:12,820
(music)

2
00:00:12,820 --> 00:00:13,360
(rattle)

3
00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:16,600
(music)

4
00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,540
(Narrator) There must be something in a sunspot that opens up a wealth of knowledge

5
00:00:20,540 --> 00:00:22,700
and even more questions.

6
00:00:22,700 --> 00:00:29,060
Like Galileo before him, German astronomer, Samuel Heinrich Schwabe became fascinated with sunspots.

7
00:00:29,060 --> 00:00:36,420
From careful observation over 17 years, Schwabe found a periodic cycling of the average number of sunspots.

8
00:00:36,420 --> 00:00:42,060
In the mid 1800s he and other astronomers found that the sun has about an 11 year cycle.

9
00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:46,260
Between the times when we can observe 
the most and the least sunspot.

10
00:00:46,260 --> 00:00:49,740
(Holly Gilbert) Understanding the 11 years 
solar cycle becomes very crucial

11
00:00:49,740 --> 00:00:52,840
and understanding the effects 
of space weather here at Earth.

12
00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:58,420
Because it really dictates how often solar storms will occur and how strong they will be.

13
00:00:58,420 --> 00:01:09,960
(music)