evidence: The number of sunspots on our sun typically ebbs and flows in a predictable 11-year cycle, but one unusual 70-year period when sunspots were incredibly rare has mystified scientists for 300 years. Now, a nearby sun-like star seems to have paused its own cycles and entered a similar period of rare starspots, according to a team of researchers at Penn State. Continuing to observe this star could help explain what happened to our own sun during this "Maunder minimum" as well as lend insight into the sun's stellar magnetic activity, which can interfere with satellites and global communications and possibly even affect climate on Earth. [...] Starspots appear as a dark spot on a star's surface due to temporary lower temperatures in the area resulting from the star's dynamo—the process that creates its magnetic field. Astronomers have been documenting changes in starspot frequency on our sun since they were first observed by Galileo and other astronomers in the 1600s, so there is a good record of its 11-year cycle. The exception is the Maunder minimum, which lasted from the mid 1600s to early 1700s and has perplexed astronomers ever since. [...] According to the researchers, the star—called HD 166620—was estimated to have a cycle of about 17 years but has now entered a period of low activity and has shown no signs of starspots since 2003.