Editing 2725: Sunspot Cycle

{{comic
| number    = 2725
| date      = January 16, 2023
| title     = Sunspot Cycle
| image     = sunspot_cycle_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x503px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = Who can forget the early 2010s memes? 'You know you're a 90s kid if you remember the feeling of warm sunlight on your face.' 'Only 90s kids remember the dawn.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a NINETIES KID WHO FELT SUN - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic seems to be set in an alternative reality where the Sun's brightness rises and falls based upon an 11 year cycle, causing there to be complete darkness for around 10 years. The change in brightness over the cycle is due to sunspots accumulating over half of the cycle. When standard sunspots appear, the Sun darkens. When fictitious 'bright' sunspots appear (in the midst of the now all-covering dark sunspot mass), it brightens.

This is probably a reference to the {{w|solar cycle}}, which is a roughly 11-year cycle of changes in the Sun's activity from a period of minimal levels of solar radiation, ejecta, sunspots and solar flares to maximum activity in these areas. Historically this cycle was observed by changes in the Sun's appearance, which this comic exaggerates. 

This would obviously be impossible{{Citation needed}} as not only do sunspots cool the area of the Sun where they appear but, during a dark phase, no light is coming from the Sun, so the Earth would freeze if all wavelengths of the Sun were blocked (if the spots only affect light in the visible spectrum, then Earth would not freeze but plants would have trouble with photosynthesis).  Sunspots are also not totally dark; NASA says that each sunspot on its own would glow orange brighter than the full moon.[https://image.gsfc.nasa.gov/poetry/workbook/sunspot.html]

The title text indicates the effect on internet memes that this process has. During the 2010s, when '90s kid' memes were still funny,{{Citation needed}} many have changed to reflect that the Earth has been dark since the 2000s, and thus only those born in the 90s and before would remember dawn.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Caption above the comic]:
:Ever wonder why the sun disappears for about 10 years every other decade? This terrifying period of worldwide darkness is a natural consequence of the 11-year sunspot cycle:

:[A graph with "Sunspot number" on the Y axis and "Time" on the X axis. A dashed line increases, then decreases, then slightly increases again. Above the dashed line are eight circles representing the sun with various levels of sunspots, with an arrow between each circle. From left to right: The first circle is clear. The second circle has a few sunspots.]
:Dark sunspots appear.
:[The third circle has a few more, and darker, sunspots.]
:Sunspot number rises.
:[The fourth circle has some large black sunspots with much of the remainder of the circle in gray. Between the fourth and fifth circle is a label:]  
:Number falls as sunspots merge.
:[The fifth circle is mostly black. The sixth circle is all black.]
:Sunspots envelop sun, Earth enters years of darkness.
:[The seventh circle is mostly black with a few light areas. The eighth circle is still mostly black but with some larger white areas.]
:Bright sunspots appear, cycle reverses.

:[A second graph is labeled "History" but its Y axis is not labeled. The X axis has the years "1970", "1980", "1990", "2000", "2010", and "2020" labeled. The areas between 1970 and 1980, 1990 and 2000, and approximately 2012 and 2025 are labeled "Sun is bright". The areas between 1980 and 1990, and 2000 and approximately 2012 are labeled "Sun is dark".]  
{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]