• Strange Doings on the Sun

    Sunspots, Which Can Harm Electronics on Earth, Are Half the Number Expected

    The sun should be at the climax of its usual 11-year cycle of activity, but solar physicists are puzzled by its mellow solar maximum. WSJ's Robert Lee Hotz reports.

    Something is up with the sun.

    Scientists say that solar activity is stranger than in a century or more, with the sun producing barely half the number of sunspots as expected and its magnetic poles oddly out of sync.

    The sun generates immense magnetic fields as it spins. Sunspots—often broader in diameter than Earth—mark areas of intense...

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