Recent news reports about a predicted decline in the sun's magnetic activity pose the question, asking if the earth will be cooling off because of it. Let's ask the Bad Astronomer, Dr. Phil Plait. The answer — spoiler...

I just learned a lot about sunspots from Dr. Phil Plait. He's quite excited about NAS...  ...footage that shows the formation of a cluster of sunspots earlier this year. Sunspots are actually regions of slightly cooler material...  ...e temperature, this cooler stuff is dar...