Posted on 06/14/2011 11:56:14 AM PDT by TaraP
Astronomers will unveil a "major result" on Tuesday (June 14) regarding the sun's 11-year sunspot cycle.
The announcement will be made at a solar physics conference in New Mexico, according to an alert released today (June 10) by the American Astronomical Society. The discussion will begin at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT).
Sunspots are blotches on the sun that appear dark because they are significantly cooler than the rest of the solar surface. While they look small from our vantage point on Earth, these enigmatic structures can be huge — up to 30,000 miles (48,280 kilometers) across, or as wide as the planet Neptune. Sunspots last for a few days or weeks before dissipating.
Sunspots are of interest to astronomers because they serve as an indicator of solar activity, which waxes and wanes in an 11-year cycle. In fact, scientists map out this cycle based on sunspot numbers.
Currently, the sun is in the midst of its Solar Cycle 24, the 24th cycle since observations began.
Recently, the sun has begun rousing itself from an extended quiescent period. Over the past several months, our star has unleashed several immensely powerful flares and sent huge volumes of solar plasma rocketing toward Earth, in massive eruptions known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
In the near future, the flares and CMEs should get more frequent and more intense. Researchers predict that solar activity will peak sometime in 2013 or 2014.
Return to SPACE.com Tuesday for the results of the sunspot study announcement.
No, that’s not necessarily so. But I wonder what it means for the Sun-Earth mega currents.
Some unusual solar readings, including fading sunspots and weakening magnetic activity near the poles, could be indications that our sun is preparing to be less active in the coming years.
The results of three separate studies seem to show that even as the current sunspot cycle swells toward the solar maximum, the sun could be heading into a more-dormant period, with activity during the next 11-year sunspot cycle greatly reduced or even eliminated.
The results of the new studies were announced today (June 14) at the annual meeting of the solar physics division of the American Astronomical Society, which is being held this week at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20110614/sc_space/sunsfadingspotssignalbigdropinsolaractivity
The sun’s magnetic field
In the second study, researchers tracked a long-term weakening trend in the strength of sunspots, and predict that by the next solar cycle, magnetic fields erupting on the sun will be so weak that few, if any, sunspots will be formed.
With more than 13 years of sunspot data collected at the McMath-Pierce Telescope at Kitt Peak in Arizona, Matt Penn and William Livingston observed that the average magnetic field strength declined significantly during Cycle 23 and now into Cycle 24. Consequently, sunspot temperatures have risen, they observed.
If the trend continues, the sun’s magnetic field strength will drop below a certain threshold and sunspots will largely disappear; the field no longer will be strong enough to overcome such convective forces on the solar surface.
In a separate study, Richard Altrock, manager of the Air Force’s coronal research program at NSO’s facility in New Mexico, examined the sun’s corona and observed a slowdown of the magnetic activity’s usual “rush to the poles.”
“A key thing to understand is that those wonderful, delicate coronal features are actually powerful, robust magnetic structures rooted in the interior of the sun,” Altrock said. “Changes we see in the corona reflect changes deep inside the sun...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20110614/sc_space/sunsfadingspotssignalbigdropinsolaractivity
Here is another to augment you earlier thread
Reason #24 I'm glad I already moved back from Alaska to Texas.
Maybe I'll be glad I kept the snow shovel.
If I find I need the 8 Hp snowblower with tractor treads again, I'm moving to Costa Rica.
Light NEVER travels from the un to the earth. The un is always in the dark. The earth is sometimes in the light and in the dark, depending on the Sun. But, the un is unclean, unreal, unworthy, and unnecessary.
Scientists do not know if they are coming and going....
Special report: Scientists race to avoid climate change harvest....
His 7,000-acre farm near the Australian town of Cootamundra is testament to the plight facing farmers around the globe: increasingly wilder weather is making food production more unpredictable. It’s the new normal they must prepare for.
Bragg’s farm in New South Wales state has been in the family for generations and has weather records for the area stretching back 110 years. After seven years of costly drought, the weather switched last year to unseasonably wet with flooding rains.
“It’s screaming to me that things are getting hotter and drier at different times of the year,” said the 40-year-old Bragg during a recent visit to his property, about two hours drive to the west of Canberra, the Australian capital.
“Our summers are getting wetter and if this trend continues, then we will have to find different means of farming............
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre7590i3-us-climate-crops/
Women and minorities hardest hit.
Can't report that. It contradicts the “consensus” global warming predictions that anyone would be a fool to disagree with... It would make the reporter and these scientist “deniers” and all...
“The sun went nova eight minutes ago.”
Oh I get it, it takes 8 minutes for light to travel that distance....is it dark outside now?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080601003523AA5t5jG
Silly me, I get a much better response when I search the Internet.
RUN
FOR
YOUR
LIFE!
THE DAY THE SUN WRECKED EVERYTHING!
Coming to a theater near you! In vivid Technicolor
Doctors will be standing by in case you pass out.
It's that scary!
IMAGINE
NO
CELL
PHONES!!!!
ahhh, beat me to it.
As regards the Sun, I do not hope for anything “major”.
Or, as reported by NYT: “Women and Minorities Hardest Hit”
Thanks. The other thread is here.
Some ski areas in Colorado are projecting that they will be open 4th of July weekend.
I am not sure of that. The Sun-Earth current could be increased. The impact of that on insolation is not clear.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.