Number 111 (Story #4), January 21, 1993 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein BRIGHTNESS VARIATIONS IN SUN-LIKE STARS were as large as 2.7% for a sample of 33 stars studied over eight years. The average year-to-year brightness variation for those stars similar to the Sun in age was 0.16% (rms), compared with 0.04% for the Sun. The scientists who made the photometry observations of the stars at the Lowell Observatory conclude (contact Sallie Baliunas, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, 617-495-7415) that although the Sun is in an unusually steady phase right now, eras of larger-amplitude variability, such as the Maunder Minimum (AD 1645-1715), may occur more often than previously believed and that reconstructions of past solar brightness should take this into account. (Nature, 17 Dec. 1992.)