'Major Result' on Sunspot Cycle to be Announced Tuesday

reply to post by 12 stranded dna

i read and study on how solar systems work. we've always been told the sun is hot no its not. why is it winter when were closest to the sun and summer when were furthest away?

You need to study some more. It isn't, if you live in Australia.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Nicolas Flamel

 

The opposite is possible. The reasoning is this:

Reduced solar activity results in an overall decrease in solar wind. Solar wind levels determine the extent of the heliosphere. A reduced heliosphere permits increased penetration of galactic radiation. Similar to the way atmosphere protects us from cosmic rays, the solar "atmosphere" protects the solar system.

In considering long term exposure, extrasolar cosmic rays are of great concern. They are of much higher energies than solar radiation and more difficult to shield against.

Phage, you come across as the expert in these matters but I rarely understand what you say. Can you put this one in lay
man's terms? Thanks in advance

reply to post by megabogie


Maybe these lines from Futurama will help lol

Fry: Usually on the show, they came up with a complicated plan, then explained it with a simple analogy.

Leela: Hmmm... If we can re-route engine power through the primary weapons and configure them to Melllvar's frequency, that should overload his electro-quantum structure.

Bender: Like putting too much air in a balloon!

Fry: Of course! It's all so simple!

Yup.

Less sunspots = more cosmic rays
More cosmic rays = more positive ions hitting us

Resulting in more radiation (uva), higher charged ionosphere, etc etc.

Also an interesting note about positive ions: bacteria thrive more rampantly from positive ions (highly charged particles) - plenty of scientific data on the subject.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Nicolas Flamel

 

The opposite is possible. The reasoning is this:

Reduced solar activity results in an overall decrease in solar wind. Solar wind levels determine the extent of the heliosphere. A reduced heliosphere permits increased penetration of galactic radiation. Similar to the way atmosphere protects us from cosmic rays, the solar "atmosphere" protects the solar system.

In considering long term exposure, extrasolar cosmic rays are of great concern. They are of much higher energies than solar radiation and more difficult to shield against.

That is what I learned recently, but am not aware of the possible consequences of penetration of such radiation. Can you tell more about it?

So if the sun is expected to be in hibernation,
could that be a consequence of entering the
Local Interstellar Cloud?

Isnt the local cloud heated to temp 6000c
Doesnt that match our sun temp, and lets not forget the magnetism of this cloud
and the heliosphere is being pushed against????
could it be that the sun is losing this battle?????

What happens to us Earthlings if our Sun loses this battle????

reply to post by megabogie

Sorry. The question was about how reduced solar activity would affect space exploration.

Reduced to the very basics, the theory I'm talking about says that reduced solar activity may lead to an increase in cosmic radiation. It is difficult to protect astronauts from cosmic radiation so such an increase would be problematic for manned space exploration.

Better?

reply to post by Helmkat


Last year in Anchorage we had a record number of days of rain in a row. 31 I think it was. We barely had a summer at all. Very depressing. The main reason it is so great here is the glorious summers and long hours of sunlight that make up for the winters. It is trending back to cold here again after a couple of weeks of nice weather. I think we will have a cold summer this time from past experience.

From what I can find this is very much like from 1938 to the early 1950's when the whole country saw similar weather. It also seems that it was even worse than now in the 1880's where the worst tornadoes seem to have happened. It does appear to be cyclical and normal however. I'm not ready to buy into the man made nonsense yet. Our miniscule contribution to pollutants is dwarfed by Mother Natures activities and she won't listen to us.

I don't think anyone knows for sure the causes, but I do know we have to adapt to nature as it will not adapt to us. I've bought a couple of new coats and that should take care of it for me. My concern is for the Farmers everywhere who can't even earn a living now. They won't survive in some cases I'm afraid. Imagine being a Farmer in North Dakota or Montana? I know a few and they are failing. Washing away in the floods while watching their topsoil go bye bye. Banks ready to pounce and take what it took many generations to build.

I'm researching a small hydroponic setup to install in my storage shed. Seems doable to me to simply grow my own veggies and I suppose I'll start hunting and fishing again. One Moose and some Salmon and Trout while growing my own stuff should do it. I just bought a half dozen books on hydroponics and airponics. Looks simple to do. The only expense being the lights. I'm also looking into a wind turbine as they seem to be pushing them here. Our Natural Gas supply is waning and the regulations are about to make us energy dependent on others even though we have plenty nearby. We send billions to other countries to help them drill for oil, but we here in Alaska can't even use our own Natural Gas. How sad is that. ...and stupid

reply to post by Phage


Good info Phage. Gave me all I needed to research it and understand it. Thanks.

reply to post by Phage


Thank you! I noticed in the "major announcement" they mentioned it could effect space travel but they didn't specify how. Sorry to seem so non-scientific. Perfectly understandable now.

Very interesting though if we looked at prior civilization and their advancements instead of destroying the knowledge we probably would have a much better understanding of how our Sun works. Also, if we moved towards Solar energy the massive black outs would not be needed because we would not need electricity as we do now...Though I doubt we will see it in our time, I am 24 and probably won't see anything of the sort until 60 or I'll be dead It's a shame, I was really looking forward to my flying car too since I was 6...

Originally posted by CranialSponge
Yup.

Less sunspots = more cosmic rays
More cosmic rays = more positive ions hitting us

Resulting in more radiation (uva), higher charged ionosphere, etc etc.

Also an interesting note about positive ions: bacteria thrive more rampantly from positive ions (highly charged particles) - plenty of scientific data on the subject.

Does this mean we will get to see more northern lights.. if the world is going to mess up, I would like it to look pretty at the same time....

reply to post by excelents


too funny!
2nd

reply to post by heartfulloftruth

Increased cosmic radiation does have potential to affect us on Earth. The atmosphere does a very good job of absorbing the high energy particles (cosmic rays) but at high altitudes some do slip through. People living at high elevations and traveling in jets are exposed to more cosmic rays than those at sea level. So an overall increase would result in a higher risk factor in airplane travel and at high elevations. However, the increase that is theorized is not really enough to create serious concern.

There is also a theory that cosmic rays can influence the formation of low level clouds. The extension of that theory is that an increase in low level clouds would have an effect on climate by reflecting solar energy back into space. The problem with that is for the clouds (assuming that more actually do form) affect climate much, they need to be a low latitudes (the tropics). Due to the influence of the magnetosphere, there is much less penetration of cosmic rays at low latitudes as compared to polar regions.

Originally posted by majesticgent
According to space.com here is the annoucment.

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.

Entire Article

Just bumping this so the announcement shows up again.

Originally posted by Julie Washington

Originally posted by majesticgent
According to space.com here is the annoucment.

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.

Entire Article

Just bumping this so the announcement shows up again.

I just wanted to say "You Rock" for reposting this!

Thank you!

reply to post by Phage


Thanks Phage This really helped

reply to post by Phage


Very interesting point about the Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR). If the heliosphere decreases more cosmic rays will get through.

But Solar Particle Events (SPE) (solar flares, CME) can also be deadly. NASA stated that:

Between the Apollo 16 and 17 missions, one of the largest solar proton events ever recorded occurred, and it produced radiation levels of sufficient energy for the astronauts outside of the Earth's magnetosphere to absorb lethal doses within 10 hours after the start of the event. It is indeed fortunate that the timing of this event did not coincide with one of the Apollo missions

Source: srag.jsc.nasa.gov...

So both can be deadly, but as you mentioned the GCR will be there all the time. I'm not sure about the northern lights, they may be reduced since auroras are associated with the solar wind. I wonder if the auroras will look different as the GCR levels increase?

reply to post by megabogie


I live up in the snow belt as well.I don't think the last two winters were all that harsh. Seemed normal to me.

But yep, the past month has been weird weather wise.

reply to post by Phage


I scanned through the pages and didn't see this question

I read that less sun spots put less pressure on our magnetosphere. Wouldn't that be a good thing?

I am ignorant when it comes to our Solar system, but I'm trying learn.

CRAP! That means I have to go back to school.