Hi! The number of sunspots goes up and down every eleven years. Right now we are getting closer to Sunspot minimum - which I think will be in 2006 or 2007. Around this time there are just days when there are no sunspots, although spots still pop up sometimes. There will be a lot more days like this in the next few years before the number starts going up again. That does not exactly answer your question, though, becasue we don't completely understand what makes the number of sunspots go up and down. We know, however, that it is because of changes in the Sun's magnetic field (sunspots are places where the field is especially strong). The Sun's magnetic field flips north to south every eleven years and the changes in the number of sunspots is connected to that. That change in the magnetic field is due to things that are happening deep inside the Sun, things we are just beginning to be able to study now.