Solar Cycle 24

[Mr. Lennon]

Dec. 21, 2006: Evidence is mounting: the next solar cycle is going to be a big one.

Solar cycle 24, due to peak in 2010 or 2011 "looks like its going to be one of the most intense cycles since record-keeping began almost 400 years ago," says solar physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center. He and colleague Robert Wilson presented this conclusion last week at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

http://science.nasa.gov/headli...2006/21dec_cycle24.htm
http://www.solarcycle24.com/

I hope this has nothing to do with the Mayan Calendar saying the world will end in 2012

 

[OUCaptain]

Hasn't the planet's average temperature change been linked to the solar cycle. I thought a saw the two graphs placed over each other a while back showing how the higher the amount of solar flares, the higher the Earth's temp was.

 

[rpanic]

Maybe a good time to take a trip to see the Aurora Borealis.

 

[yankeesfan]

I bet that this is because of global warming.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: yankeesfan
I bet that this is because of global warming.

Didn't you know that global warming causes intense sun flares? DUH!

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: yankeesfan
I bet that this is because of global warming.

Didn't you know that global warming causes intense sun flares? DUH!

:laugh:

 

[everman]

I'm going to invest in a sun tan lotion company.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: yankeesfan
I bet that this is because of global warming.

Didn't you know that global warming causes intense sun flares? DUH!

:laugh:

Damn you Earth, you're ruining EVERYTHING! That's why we can't have anything nice!

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: rpanic
Maybe a good time to take a trip to see the Aurora Borealis.

If the solar activity is strong enough, you may not have to travel anywhere to see them. They've had them at least as close to the equator as Hawaii.
Normally, the solar wind only gets through at the poles, where the magnetic field is weakest. But if we get a sufficiently strong coronal mass ejection coming this way, it can compress Earth's magnetic field down enough that the charged particles in the ejection are able to interact with the upper atmosphere.

Originally posted by: everman
I'm going to invest in a sun tan lotion company.

Or some good surge suppressors. The power grid can act like a giant inductive antenna - when the magnetic field shifts, this can induce huge currents in the grid.
And maybe expect communications outages - if we get hit by a big enough blast, there's the potential to lose some satellites.
There was some huge flare in late 2003, and it actually shut down and damage some probes orbiting Mars - Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Global Surveyor were all affected in some way. Cassini, out a Saturn, also was able to measure it.

And of course, this kind of activity is just one more pleasantry awaiting anyone who tries to venture to Mars - Mars has no uniform magnetic field, just a very weak, oddly distributed one. Coronal mass ejections would be able to impact the surface, and any human explorers, quite easily.

 

[SSSnail]

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: yankeesfan
I bet that this is because of global warming.

Didn't you know that global warming causes intense sun flares? DUH!

:laugh:

Damn you Earth, you're ruining EVERYTHING! That's why we can't have anything nice!

OK, so let's make it all worse by dumping more environmental harmful substances into the... environment. Live and let's live right?

 

[Nik]

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: yankeesfan
I bet that this is because of global warming.

Didn't you know that global warming causes intense sun flares? DUH!

:laugh:

Damn you Earth, you're ruining EVERYTHING! That's why we can't have anything nice!

OK, so let's make it all worse by dumping more environmental harmful substances into the... environment. Live and let's live right?

I'd rather do that than freak out about it and take it to the opposite extreme when it just doesn't matter anyway.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: GuideBot

Originally posted by: SSSnail

Originally posted by: destrekor

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: yankeesfan
I bet that this is because of global warming.

Didn't you know that global warming causes intense sun flares? DUH!

:laugh:

Damn you Earth, you're ruining EVERYTHING! That's why we can't have anything nice!

OK, so let's make it all worse by dumping more environmental harmful substances into the... environment. Live and let's live right?

I'd rather do that than freak out about it and take it to the opposite extreme when it just doesn't matter anyway.

*sigh*

Walking into ATOT and posting the words "Global warming" is like walking into a Catholic church and yelling, "Birth control! Abortion!" and then running away. Guess what the sermon that day will be about.

 

[Nik]

opcorn:

:beer:

:lawnchair:

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: rpanic
Maybe a good time to take a trip to see the Aurora Borealis.

If the solar activity is strong enough, you may not have to travel anywhere to see them. They've had them at least as close to the equator as Hawaii.
Normally, the solar wind only gets through at the poles, where the magnetic field is weakest. But if we get a sufficiently strong coronal mass ejection coming this way, it can compress Earth's magnetic field down enough that the charged particles in the ejection are able to interact with the upper atmosphere.

Originally posted by: everman
I'm going to invest in a sun tan lotion company.

Or some good surge suppressors. The power grid can act like a giant inductive antenna - when the magnetic field shifts, this can induce huge currents in the grid.
And maybe expect communications outages - if we get hit by a big enough blast, there's the potential to lose some satellites.
There was some huge flare in late 2003, and it actually shut down and damage some probes orbiting Mars - Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Global Surveyor were all affected in some way. Cassini, out a Saturn, also was able to measure it.

And of course, this kind of activity is just one more pleasantry awaiting anyone who tries to venture to Mars - Mars has no uniform magnetic field, just a very weak, oddly distributed one. Coronal mass ejections would be able to impact the surface, and any human explorers, quite easily.

Well this is suppose to be the biggest one in 400 years. Besides all the communication and power outages, what if this really led to the end of the world?

 

[YoungGun21]

Biggest in 400 years? The Earth is billions of years old. I'm sure there have been WAY bigger solar flares, probably before humans were even alive.

 

[Throckmorton]

Originally posted by: OUCaptain
Hasn't the planet's average temperature change been linked to the solar cycle. I thought a saw the two graphs placed over each other a while back showing how the higher the amount of solar flares, the higher the Earth's temp was.

Nope. Look at the graph

http://science.nasa.gov/headli...4/hathaway1_strip2.jpg

 

[shiner]

Originally posted by: Zeppelin2282

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: rpanic
Maybe a good time to take a trip to see the Aurora Borealis.

If the solar activity is strong enough, you may not have to travel anywhere to see them. They've had them at least as close to the equator as Hawaii.
Normally, the solar wind only gets through at the poles, where the magnetic field is weakest. But if we get a sufficiently strong coronal mass ejection coming this way, it can compress Earth's magnetic field down enough that the charged particles in the ejection are able to interact with the upper atmosphere.

Originally posted by: everman
I'm going to invest in a sun tan lotion company.

Or some good surge suppressors. The power grid can act like a giant inductive antenna - when the magnetic field shifts, this can induce huge currents in the grid.
And maybe expect communications outages - if we get hit by a big enough blast, there's the potential to lose some satellites.
There was some huge flare in late 2003, and it actually shut down and damage some probes orbiting Mars - Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Global Surveyor were all affected in some way. Cassini, out a Saturn, also was able to measure it.

And of course, this kind of activity is just one more pleasantry awaiting anyone who tries to venture to Mars - Mars has no uniform magnetic field, just a very weak, oddly distributed one. Coronal mass ejections would be able to impact the surface, and any human explorers, quite easily.

Well this is suppose to be the biggest one in 400 years. Besides all the communication and power outages, what if this really led to the end of the world?

I, for one, welcome our new solar overlords

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Zeppelin2282
Well this is suppose to be the biggest one in 400 years. Besides all the communication and power outages, what if this really led to the end of the world?

Even taking a direct hit from a CME wouldn't kill us off. It might roast every satellite in orbit, charge the van Allen belts, and cause enourmous power surges as a result of severe compression of the magnetic field, but we'd be alive. One of the sites I saw said that the atmosphere provides as much shielding against this radiation as 10 feet of concrete would.

I wonder too how much of that past data is skewed by the differences in accuracy from instruments long ago, versus those we have now? Now we've got the sun under 24/7 surveillance, from several satellites, notably SOHO and STEREO, with instruments not even imagined a few hundred years ago.

Originally posted by: Throckmorton

Originally posted by: OUCaptain
Hasn't the planet's average temperature change been linked to the solar cycle. I thought a saw the two graphs placed over each other a while back showing how the higher the amount of solar flares, the higher the Earth's temp was.

Nope. Look at the graph

http://science.nasa.gov/headli...4/hathaway1_strip2.jpg

Yeah, that graph compares geomagnetic readings, not thermal ones.

 

[Rubycon]

sigh

I will have to throw bottles to the sea to post here if that happens.

 

[sao123]

Originally posted by: Jeff7

Originally posted by: rpanic
Maybe a good time to take a trip to see the Aurora Borealis.

If the solar activity is strong enough, you may not have to travel anywhere to see them. They've had them at least as close to the equator as Hawaii.
Normally, the solar wind only gets through at the poles, where the magnetic field is weakest. But if we get a sufficiently strong coronal mass ejection coming this way, it can compress Earth's magnetic field down enough that the charged particles in the ejection are able to interact with the upper atmosphere.

Originally posted by: everman
I'm going to invest in a sun tan lotion company.

Or some good surge suppressors. The power grid can act like a giant inductive antenna - when the magnetic field shifts, this can induce huge currents in the grid.
And maybe expect communications outages - if we get hit by a big enough blast, there's the potential to lose some satellites.
There was some huge flare in late 2003, and it actually shut down and damage some probes orbiting Mars - Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Global Surveyor were all affected in some way. Cassini, out a Saturn, also was able to measure it.

And of course, this kind of activity is just one more pleasantry awaiting anyone who tries to venture to Mars - Mars has no uniform magnetic field, just a very weak, oddly distributed one. Coronal mass ejections would be able to impact the surface, and any human explorers, quite easily.

Heck man... Voyager was able to measure that one...

 

[AnthroAndStargate]

There were minor shifts in the tempature fluctuation (look up the Mini Ice Age) that made the Earth cooler - not warmer. I think you may be trying to make an offhanded remark about global warming. Keep it on topic please.

I can't wait for this!

 

[GTaudiophile]

God damn all you SUV drivers!

Isn't the earth's ozone layer enough? Why do you all have to go fvck with the sun?

 

[SunnyD]

I love the term "Coronal Mass Ejection"...

To me, it sounds like the sun is having an orgasm.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

I remember that during the late 80s and early-to-mid 90s I could see many sunspots with the naked eye, at sunrise, from my kitchen window... fascinating!

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: AnitaPeterson
I remember that during the late 80s and early-to-mid 90s I could see many sunspots with the naked eye, at sunrise, from my kitchen window... fascinating!

I think that was just damage to your eyes from staring at the sun every morning.