'Quiet Sun' baffling astronomers [SUN SPOTS HAVE DISAPPEARED]

BBC News ^ | 2009/04/21 05:04:15 GMT | Pallab Ghosh

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Sunspots could be seen by the Soho telescope in 2001 (l), but not this year (r)

There are no sunspots, very few solar flares - and our nearest star is the quietest it has been for a very long time.

The observations are baffling astronomers, who are due to study new pictures of the Sun, taken from space, at the UK National Astronomy Meeting.

The Sun normally undergoes an 11-year cycle of activity. At its peak, it has a tumultuous boiling atmosphere that spits out flares and planet-sized chunks of super-hot gas. This is followed by a calmer period.

Last year, it was expected that it would have been hotting up after a quiet spell. But instead it hit a 50-year year low in solar wind pressure, a 55-year low in radio emissions, and a 100-year low in sunspot activity...

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

There's also a video at the BBC webpage, but the flash player doesn't allow me to deep link to it.

[Trailerpark Badass]

uh-oh...

[April Lexington]

This is ALL George Bush’s fault...

[2001convSVT]

Earth cooling here we come!

[GQuagmire]

[Myrddin]

The sun refuses to follow Al Gore's global warming agenda. Lack of sunspots portends an ice age. Gore will not be pleased. The rest of us may freeze and starve as a consequence of not paying attention to the actual physical phenomena instead of the agenda driven hoax.

[Zeppelin]

Jessica Simpson is right...Proactiv works!

[GQuagmire]

Looks like the sun used some Proactiv and cleared up its complexion :)

[Liberty1970]

Calm before the storm?

[freedumb2003]

Human-caused Global Warming finally affects the Sun, just like al gore said it would!

[cripplecreek]

She’s gonna blow!!!!!!!!

[shibumi]

It’s just sitting there, thinking about whether to incinerate us now ... or later.

(Animistic Universe anyone?)

[USCG SimTech]

Just resting for the big one like back in the late 1800’s. Only this time there's the whole world's electronics to fry, not just teletype operators to nearly electrocute.

[kempo]

And here we are going to all the trouble of trying to stop global warming and the sun is going to do it for us. Al Gore has to be disappointed.

[waxer1]

Does the alignment in 2012 have anything to do with this?

[ArrogantBustard]

There used to be a version of that "OH NOES" .gif with ManBearPig in it ...

I can't seem to find it anymore.

Bummer.

[MediaMole]

Cooling is a lot worse than warming.

Late frosts, crop failures, things like that.

Of course, yesterday, the British news was warning of massive solar storms that would destroy all technology.

[dragnet2]

Bookmark

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Obama Executive Order #2009-666.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

Well, at least by the time the climate really starts to cool we will be paying out the rear for energy to heat ourselves. That is, of course, if our current leaders have their way.