Sun Sheds Skin And Flips

spacedaily.com ^ | 21 Nov 03 | staff

[TheDon]

You missed an interesting show. They discussed how the earth's magnetic field flips every few hundred thousand years, and that the field gets very weak during the transition, which can last for centuries. The field has been weaking over the last several years.

Worst case was several centuries without a stable magnetic north, auroras all over the planet, and a slight increase in cancer due to more cosmic ray exposure.

How they determined all of this, is as interesting as what they determined.

[Davea]

Here's an article from 02/16/01 "Sun Flips Magnetic Field"
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/02/16/sun.flips/

[Barnacle]

The Leonids were a bit of a disappointment from what I saw and read.

[Barnacle]

They're back. 486,488, and 484.

All rested and ready to go.

[RightWhale]

the frozen transmission

The Toyota is great in that respect. The tires, though, are all-season except serious cold. Kind of many-seasons tires.

On another note, if there were no magnetic field of earth, the aurora would be dispersed all over the planet. Outstanding, patterned displays would be uncommon although the aurora would be present as faint background skyglow most of the time.

[commish]

Canopus is showing the Auroral Oval all the way down below 55 degrees, and NOAA shows the Magnetic component still well to the south. K-Index is currently at 8, and Geomagnetic Storm rating is still EXTREME.

As dusk approaches on the Eastern Seaboard -- if these reading hold there should be one heck of an Auroral Show for the Southern States again tonight!

[Old Professer]

So, that's why my garage door has been going up and down by itself for the past two weeks. I just finished trimming 5.38 inches off the antenna lead this morning and have been babysitting it since.

[Old Professer]

Our local Hecht's has crockpots on sale for the Holidays.

[Darksheare]

Makes one wonder what a Magnetar would do.

[Old Professer]

Go to the RV place and get a set of air-bag lift kits and install them on the underside of the car; when you park it, inflate them to lift the weight off the tires and you're clear to go in the morning. '^)

[Jemian]

No one has ever given me an answer to this question. When the magnetic field flips, do compass needles then point south?

[Darksheare]

Only when Earth's magnetic field flips.
That has happened in the past, but it may not happen inour lifetime.

[RightWhale]

one heck of an Auroral Show for the Southern States

Being in Alaska gives one a chance to see some fantastic auroral displays now and then. '73-'75 were some of the wildest. The southern states might get some aurora, which in itself is fantastic, but a fantastic display is unlikely.

For example, one night in the Brooks Range I sat out at 50 below for 3 hours and watched a yellow-orange display that looked more like a McDonald's hamburger arch going straight overhead than anything. I broke off a chunk of sublimated and recrystallized snow and looked at the arch by reflection from the perfectly flat surface of an ice crystal the size of my fingernail. When I got back to camp they said they had been worried about me. Not worried enough to brave the wolves and bears to go looking for me, though.

[RightWhale]

When the magnetic field flips, do compass needles then point south?

Yes, that is the point.

[Darksheare]

!!!
"Not worried enough to brave the wolves and bears to go looking for me, though."
Sounds like some of my friends..

[Libertarianize the GOP]

ping

[null and void]

On another note, if there were no magnetic field of earth, the aurora would be dispersed all over the planet. Outstanding, patterned displays would be uncommon although the aurora would be present as faint background skyglow most of the time.

And faint stars would be lost to view. Would we know the milky way or the zodiacal light?

[RightWhale]

All those are already lost to view of 90% of Americans. Light pollution has destroyed the night sky.

[null and void]

We'd be more worried about the wolves and bears with you wandering loose..

[commish]

CANOPUS realtime oval now below 50 Degrees -- it never got close to the 50 degree line during the last Auroral shows. While Alaska and northern tiers will get the good stuff, this could still be one for the history books in the south.

Space-weather.com is speculating thatfaint auroras might even be visible as far south as Miami. Lets keep our fingers crossed.