However, there is also evidence that the sun is inexorably losing its ability to produce sunspots (see "the sunspot forecast").
Other nasty effects: wrinkled and leathery skin, brown sunspots, and cataracts.
The bright glowing gas flowing around the sunspots has a temperature of over one million degrees Celsius.
But why emerging sunspots should reveal themselves clearly at one depth but not at others is a mystery.
The sun continued to languish until mid-December, when the largest group of sunspots to emerge for several years appeared.