[justa-hairyape]

How could something that is so obvious have gone so virtually ignored for almost the entire previous millenia ? Yes virginia, the suns output is an important factor affecting the earths climate. In fact its the most important factor. We should have had satellites up in orbit monitoring spectral emmissions from the sun for decades. Of course it varies and of course these variations have a tremendous impact on the earth. Duh ! This is a perfect example of how 'science' has been perverted into 'political science'. The politics of the sun being the problem did not generate enough lobbyist buying influence within washington to get the politicians to fund the research into the sun being the problem (ie- Not enough 'we can fix the sun' lobbyist). So anyone that thinks modern science generates absolute truths, is being naive. If anything, science is being ruined by politically influenced funding. The funding has been generating the science. For science to generate cogent absolutes, the science should be generating the funding.

[RightWhale]

How could something that is so obvious have gone so virtually ignored for almost the entire previous millenia ?

Scientists are observing the sun as never before. They have sun satellites, sun sensors, solar tomagraphs, and many are making sun science their career. The sun has not been overlooked; the sun is better known than ever before. Meteorologists use sun data in their climate models. Always have, always will.