Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sun Flips Its Polarity

Posted by timothy on from the and-*one*-and-*two*-and-*three*-and-*again* dept.

grasshopper69 writes: "This CNN article talks about how the sun has recently reversed its polarity, which apparently is an occurence every 11 years. This flipping indicates a time of 'solar max' during which the sun will incur more frequent sun spots and eruptions, causing solar flares, which could mean trouble for planet Earth." No one is sure why Earthly magnetic flips are so less regular, either, but all those migrating birds on the sun must be used to it already.

5 of 15 comments (clear)

  1. So... by jd · · Score: 2

    The sun has finally fipped. Oh well, it was just a matter of time. Just give it a nice, quiet room with bouncy walls, for a while, until it gets itself together.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  2. Re:migrating birds? by babbage · · Score: 2
    No no, it's always summer on the sun (regardless or hemisphere or time of year :) -- just like California [tm]! Of course, that doesn't make migrations any more likely...

    Then again, it would be a rare breed of bird that could put up with the multi-million degree temperatures anyway. If you had a chicken that lived in a place like that, how would you cook it? What good would a 400 degree stove do? Cool it off? Good thing I'mn a vegetarian, and need not deal with such culninary dangers... :)

    (I'm still stunned that I got a first post. First time for everything...)



    --
    DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
  3. There is an early warning system. by Heidi+Wall · · Score: 2
    NASA have a satellite in a legrange point between the Earth and the Sun that constantly watches the Sun. This means that they can get prior warning of any solar flair outbursts heading our way by a couple of hours, and there are now warning systems in place to alert power companies (for example, a solar flare induced power failure in Northern Canada nad blacked out much of Quebec 11 years ago, because the ion storm caused fuses in power lines to break) a couple of hours ahead of time.

    Kind of impressive that we now have a space weather early warning system.
    --
    Clarity does not require the absence of impurities,

    --
    /* And you'll never guess what the dog had */
    /* in its mouth... */
    --Larry Wall in stab.c from perl
  4. Ice Ages cause the Earth to flip. by Crutcher · · Score: 3

    The flipping of the earth's magnetic field is pretty well understood:

    Ice Ages, and thaws, affect the distribution of mass upon the surface of the plannet just enough to affect the spin rate. Changes in the spin rate disrupt the coriolis induced iron magma currents in the core, which are the primary cause of earth's large magnetic field, and the field collapses into chaos.

    When these currents stabilize, having adjusted to the new spin rate, the field becomes coherent again. The polarity of the field when it reaserts is a toss up.

    So, when people talk about the earth 'flipping' its polarity, they often overlook that about 1/2 the time, the polarity after a reasert is the same as it was before the field collapsed.



    -- Crutcher --
    #include <disclaimer.h>

    --

    -- Crutcher --
    #include <disclaimer.h>
  5. "Sun Flips Its Polarity" by babbage · · Score: 4

    So they're going to abandon Java & embrace .NET?



    --
    DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL