The Sunspot Mystery
Sunspots are mysterious magnetic blemishes on the surface of the sun, many times larger than the earth. They come and go in cycles which last 11 years. Scientists in Skylab have discovered that sunspots are directly related to the solar wind, which streams from the sun, bending and twisting the earth's magnetic field.
But physicists are now diving back into history to see if events on earth correlate with the sunspot cycle. What happened, for example, When there were no sunspots, during the time of Louis XIV? One correlation is clear - the present drought in the Western Plains of the USA is only one in a cycle which matches sunspot activity.
Could sunspots be affecting the dramatic global changes of climate that we are seeing now?
Written and produced for WGBH Boston by BEN SHEDI), GRAHAM CHEDD
Adapted for Horizon by FISHER DILKE Series editor simon CAMPBELL-JONES