Precession of the magnetic North Pole mostly due to where Jupiter is in its orbit. Same thing that is causing the lack of sunspots. Not a big deal. Good doomsday-bait though.
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We may have a winner here. Hand me the envelope please.
I hurriedly tear open the envelope and read:
“YOU ARE THE LEADING CANDIDATE FOR THE ‘WHY IS THE MAGNETIC NORTH POLE RACING SOUTH AT NEAR JET SPEED AWARD FOR 2013’.
PLEASE PROVIDE A REFERENCE FOR YOUR CLEVER EXPLANATION”.
Hmm, lets see. 161 miles in 6 months. That is about 2.7 miles a month. Or less than .1 miles a day. As in about 500 feet.
Yup. Jet speed. Whatever airline you fly, may I suggest you get one that isn’t powered by gerbils? LOL.
Oh, and an unsnarky note: Jupiter’s magnetic field has 20,000 times the energy of Earth’s and is stronger than the Sun’s. Too tired to dig up the papers on the interactions, but it’s pretty easy to Google that Jupiter’s magnetic field affects pretty much the entire solar system - and the things in it.
Still not going to panic over the pole reversal thing. The Earth has been through it before, it will go through it again.
Is interesting to note that Jupiter's poles are oppositely aligned to the Sun's and Earth's. Jupiter also has the strongest magnetic field in the solar system, even more than the Sun's and about 20,000 times the Earth's. Also, the Sun's magnetic field is a bit weak right now as witness by the low occurrence of sunspots for quite a while. See www.spaceweather.com
So feel free to panic if it suits you. LOL.