New-cycle sunspot 1024 is growing rapidly and crackling with B-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDIPosted on 07/05/2009 4:41:07 AM PDT by decimon
New-cycle sunspot 1024 is growing rapidly and crackling with B-class solar flares. Credit: SOHO/MDI
Hurry! Pass Cap and Tax!
Flash in the pan, or the real thing?
Don't know solar science at all, so I'm not even sure I'd be asking valid questions.
But the first thing I'd ask is "How big, how long-lasting, how intense, how many?"
We're talking sunspots, people, not Obasms.
Cheers!
Ruht Roh... will this be the opening act of the big build up to usher in 2012?! :)
That's one helluva pan. According to this, the magnetic polarity identifies the sunspot as part of the new cycle.
What does that mean? I mean I know we haven’t had sunspots in quite a while, but is this one of those that can mess with satellites. I just don’t understand if this is bad or good.
The start of the sunspot cycle means that we will not head into a prolonged period of cooling. The cycle is starting a year late.
That’s Hugh!
I think this bodes well for avoiding another little ice age. Don't know about the rest.
It's neutral.
One sunspot is unlikely to have any affect at all on satellites or anything else. What messes with people are coronal mass ejections, which are usually only associated with very energetic groupings of multiple sun spots.
A CME is exactly what it sounds like, an ejection of mass (very hot plasma) from the suns corona. Picture throwing hot spaghetti against the ceiling. If it sticks, then the CME might cause trouble for the Earth.
Is that because of a programming error or did somebody just forget to push a button? Who is responsible? If it was a private company somebody would be fired. A government agency would consider it business as usual and forget about it. The sun is too big to fail, people.
A solar cycle of a thousand sunspots begins with but one pimple on a gnat's butt.
The Sun had to wait while Obama got himself annoited.
“The cycle is starting a year late.”
Oh, thank God! I thought someone “knocked up” the sun for a minute.
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