A fungus (/ËfÊÅÉ¡És/; plural: fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from the other eukaryotic life kingdoms of plants and animals. A characteristic that places fungi in a different kingdom from plants, bacteria and some protists, is chitin in their cell walls.
The 11-year cycle of the number of sunspots was first demonstrated by Heinrich Schwabe (1789-1875) in 1843. There have been several periods during which sunspots were rare or absent, most notably the Maunder minimum (1645-1715), and less markedly the Dalton minimum (1795-1820) (Fig 2.8 in the book).
Sunspots expand and contract as they move across the surface of the sun and can be as large as 80, 000 km in diameter. Sunspots are magnetic regions on the sun with magnetic field strengths thousands of times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field, and often appear in pairs that are aligned in an east-west direction.