Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 12/17/2009 6:11:05 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
Oh, where, oh where have all the sunspots gone?
The fiery orange ball overhead has quieted during the past three years. Quiet in the sense that there have been very few sunspots – those black blotches on the sun’s surface caused by intense magnetic activity.
But just how quiet is quiet? Well, so far during the recent solar minimum (a period of low activity during the sun’s typical 11-year solar cycle), we’ve seen 183 sun-spotless days in 2007, 266 in 2008 and 259 in 2009 (as of Dec. 16 2009). Earth hasn’t witnessed a similar three-year stretch (1911, 192, 1913) of sun-spotless days since the early 1900s.
The blank sun has not gone unnoticed by the experts. "We're experiencing a very deep solar minimum," says solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center.
"This is the quietest sun we've seen in almost a century," agrees sunspot expert David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center.
So why are sunspots under the spotlight? Because, according to solar scientists, their declining numbers, significant even by solar-minimum standards, could be the harbinger of colder temperatures ahead.
If so, it won’t be the first time the earth shivered as sunspots numbers declined. In the 17th century, the sun experienced a sunspot drought, dubbed the Maunder Minimum, which lasted 70 years – from 1645 until 1715. Astronomers at the time counted only a few dozen sunspots per year, thousands fewer than usual.
As sunspots vanished temperatures fell. The River Thames in London froze, sea ice was reported along the coasts of southeast England, and ice floes blocked many harbors. Agricultural production nose-dived as growing seasons grew shorter, leading to lower crop yields, food shortages and famine.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Someone should alert Al.
And during the last century more and more SUVs have been produced — therefore, SUVs cause the sun to lose its sunspots.
Should we send Trillions to poor countries to make more sunspots??
Pray for America’s Freedom
Watch out. The next thing we know Al Gore will be selling sunspots. Maybe time share sunspots.
Has anyone notified the Lunatics at the Dopesinhagen Summit?
BRILLIANT !
Everyone is fighting for a piece of the research grant pie.
“Everyone is fighting for a piece of the research grant pie.”
Bingo.
Those are just a pimple...the Sun is expected to remain very quiet. Doing its part to make ‘ol Al look like the fool he is.
So we should only drive on the Sun at night?
INCOMING CME: This morning at 0120 UT, an eruption of magnetic fields around sunspot 1035 produced a long-duration C4-class solar flare and hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) in the general direction of Earth. High-latitude sky watchers should prepare for auroras when the CME arrives on or about Dec. 18th. STEREO movies: solar flare, CME.
BIG NEW SUNSPOT: New sunspot 1035 is growing rapidly and it is now seven times wider than Earth. This makes it an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. Yesterday, Rogerio Marcon of Campinas, Brazil, photographed a maelstrom of hot plasma and magnetic filaments connecting the sunspot’s dark cores:
“Solar activity is picking up,” he says.
The magnetic polarity of the spot identifies it as a member of Solar Cycle 24—the cycle we’ve been waiting for to end the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century. One spot isn’t enough to end the lull, but sunspot 1035 could herald bigger things to come. Stay tuned for updates.
It’s been unusually warm and humid down here this Fall. I think it’s due to a weak el nino though. Only two chilly days so far. And still need the a/c in the day time. Can’t wait to open the windows up.
Before you dis these guys as “just looking for money” read the article.
They are presenting a very simple clear and logical refutation of anthropogenic global warming.
Quite simply, if one accepts the evidence that global climate is controlled by the sun (well, duh!) then one has to also admit that there is NOTHING humanity can do about it. That takes the wind right out of the sails of the anthropogenic global warming/climate change crowd.
It means they have no reason to regulate our behavior or our output of CO2 or any other so called “greenhouse gas”.
It means “cap and trade” has absolutely no reason to exist other than to steal from you and me.
It means Algore will need to find another scam.
It means the left will need to find another bogyman. (I predict this very thing will happen. Hmmm...what will be next?)
Since when did the sun factor into earth’s climate? It’s humanity’s fault!
“”””And still need the a/c in the day time.””””
You’re kidding? December? Is that strictly due to the humidity and or just high temps?
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.