Don't forget the sunblock.

Bad news for ham radio operators:

For almost the entire month of February 2006 the sun was utterly blank. If Galileo had looked at the sun on his 442nd birthday, he would have been disappointed - no sunspots, no spin, no discovery. What's going on? NASA solar physicist David Hathaway explains: "Solar minimum has arrived."

Good news for ham radio operators:

Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, have declared a breakthough in understanding our Sun's 11-year activity cycle. And they are using their new model to make predictions: that the next solar cycle will be 30 to 50 percent stronger than the one now ending, and that it will begin 6 to 12 months late.

Other coverage and resources:

• National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)
• NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
• NASA Graphics
• A Primer on Space Weather