What Did the Sun Just Do... and Will it Do it Again?
Joseph M. Kunches


The Sun continues to baffle and amaze the space weather prediction community on at 
least two different fronts. Looking out over the long-term, what will the coming Solar 
Cycle 24 look like? The blue-ribbon Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Panel is, at this writing, 
split on the forecast and the Sun is balking now at revealing the beginnings of this 
coming cycle. And does this even matter that much? In the depths of solar minimum, in 
December 2006, the Sun produced what seems to be a historic radio burst that dramatically 
impacted GPS. But was it historic or was it that the solar radio telescopes just weren't 
able to see bursts of this magnitude before? This talk will explore each of these 
questions and hopefully, offer some insights.