2725: Sunspot Cycle

2023-01-17T03:48:52Z

Jarebear: /* Explanation */ Removed section hypothesizing that there is a correlation between real events. The reference of 2020 being a low point specifically doesn't match because that is a point of peak sun brightness. Doubtful it's the intention of the comic.

{{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 within 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 the sun darkens, standard sunspots appear. When it brightens, fictitious 'bright' sunspots appear in place of the old, dark sunspots.

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.

The title text indicates the effect on internet memes that this process has. During the 2010's, when '90's kid' memes were still funny, many have changed to reflect that the Earth has been dark since the 2000's, and thus only those born in the 90's 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 consequence of the 11-year sunspot cycle.

There is a graph with "Sunspot number" and "Time".
Left to right:
Dark sunspots appear.
Sunspot number rises.
Numbers fall as sunspots merge.
Sunspots envelop sun, earth enters years of darkness.
Bright sunspots appear, cycle reverses.

History:
(A graph goes back and forth from "Sun is light" and "Sun is dark".
{{comic discussion}}

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2725: Sunspot Cycle