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Sunspots (Astrophysics)
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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I see the wheels are still off the sunspot cycle.

This from the New Scientist:

The eerily lethargic sun shows no signs of perking up, solar physicists say. The sun may wallow in inactivity for the next decade – or longer, which could affect Earth's climate as well as the health of orbiting satellites.

The sun has been unusually placid lately. In 2008, the solar wind slowed to a 50-year low, coinciding with the least active point in the 11-year sunspot cycle. That dip in activity has also been deeper and longer than usual.

Now, other diagnostic measurements of the sun also point to weird behaviour, suggesting the normal sunspot cycle may be interrupted.

"The sunspot cycle may be going into hibernation," says Frank Hill of the National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico. He and other researchers are presenting their findings this week at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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This reminds me of one of the earliest Applied Epistemological laws:

Cycles last only until they are discovered.
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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Cycles last only until they are discovered.

This reminds me... Didicoy have camped in Summerseat... Must lock the garage.
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Ishmael


In: Toronto
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Well gentlemen, we are the only persons in the universe who know what's actually going on on Uranus, thanks to your association with my genius and the fundamental principles of Applied Epistemology (same effect, same cause).

Eruption on 'boring' Uranus excites world of astronomy
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Ishmael


In: Toronto
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Unseen asteroid impacts Jupiter. Let's watch for a "sunspot".

Breaking Science News: Big explosion recorded on Jupiter's surface (video)
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Ishmael


In: Toronto
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Current thinking holds that comets and extinction level asteroids orbit the solar system, at its outer limits, in an hypothetical "Ort Cloud". From there, they are shaken loose by the Sun's gravity and, if Earth is lucky, they are intercepted by Jupiter's gravity before striking into our planet.

I have a different idea; comets and asteroids originate from their home in close orbit around the Sun. From there, they are shaken loose by Jupiter's gravity and, if we are unlucky, our planet sometimes gets in the way.

Russian Meteor had Close Shave with the Sun
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Boreades


In: finity and beyond
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Chad wrote:
I see the wheels are still off the sunspot cycle.


This from the New Scientist:

... The sun may wallow in inactivity for the next decade -- or longer, which could affect Earth's climate


The wheels must have hit the New Scientist journo on the head. They are usually careful to remove any references to natural causes of climate change in our own era.

Unless, of course, humans have caused the disruption to the sunspot cycle? ;-)
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aurelius



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Personally I welcome the Sun taking a breather - it's happened before (e.g. Maunder Minimum) and coincided/helped cause, depending on your point of view, a cooling of the Earth's atmosphere. It'll give our Greenhouse a breather...
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