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Of Late, Fewer Sunspots Than Usual

Posted by timothy on from the sundials-largely-unaffected dept.

esocid writes "The sun has been laying low for the past couple of years, producing no sunspots and giving a break to satellites. Periods of inactivity are normal for the sun, but this period has gone on longer than usual. The sun usually operates on an 11-year cycle with maximum activity occurring in the middle of the cycle. The last cycle reached its peak in 2001 and is believed to be just ending now, with the next cycle just beginning and expected to reach its peak sometime around 2012. Today's sun, however, is as inactive as it was two years ago, and scientists aren't sure why. In the past, solar physicists observed that the sun once went 50 years without producing sunspots, coinciding with a little ice age on Earth that lasted from 1650 to 1700." (More below.) esocid continues: "The Hinode, a Japanese satellite mission with the US and UK as partners, has three telescopes that together show how changes on the sun's surface spread through the solar atmosphere. It orbits 431 miles (694 km) above the Earth, crossing both poles and making one lap every 95 minutes, giving Hinode an uninterrupted view of the sun for several months out of the year. Scientists are not extremely worried, but have added extra ground stations in case of interference from extra solar activity, and are ready for the Sun to resume its activity." (The Little Ice Age is fascinating, full stop.)

11 of 628 comments (clear)

  1. solar warming, that's why. by Svet-Am · · Score: 5, Funny

    it's obvious why -- climate change and solar warming! we need legislation to fix this problem.

    --
    [move .sig! for great justice, take off every .sig!]
    1. Re:solar warming, that's why. by peragrin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Nope it's actuall the global warming laws that the sun is following. The summary stated without sunspots for 50 years the planet went through a mini ice age. The sun is just trying to help us cool the planet down a bit.

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      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    2. Re:solar warming, that's why. by clam666 · · Score: 4, Funny

      The sun isn't changing. Man causes climate change, the climate change causes solar activity to change.

      Now that I've proved it the solution is to create a economic cap-and-trade system that creates a secondary market for the redistribution of wealth from people that earned it(good, bad, ugly, fairly, or unfairly) to people that didn't.

      Surely you know that the movements of pieces of green paper around the earth will cause a perfect eden to exist like northern California worldwide don't you?

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      I'm a satanic clam.
    3. Re:solar warming, that's why. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Unfortunately, the Sun doesn't care about the Earth.

      Sorry Fine. The Earth couldn't give a crap about the Sun either. And no, we're NOT sorry!
    4. Re:solar warming, that's why. by Lord_Frederick · · Score: 4, Funny

      Stupid selfish Sun.

    5. Re:solar warming, that's why. by JustOK · · Score: 5, Funny

      thinking its so fucking brilliant!

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      rewriting history since 2109
    6. Re:solar warming, that's why. by oni · · Score: 4, Funny

      As if the whole world revolves around it.

      (the pun didn't quite sound right when I used the word orbit)

  2. You mean the Sun's spot production has been .... by Palmyst · · Score: 4, Funny

    a little spotty?

  3. Re:You mean the Sun's spot production has been ... by MarcoG42 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apparently, no spotting at all. Word is the sun is tremendously worried and was seen at CVS in the pregnancy test section.

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    If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.
  4. Re:I blame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I blame the Mayans and their stupid calender!!

  5. Re:You mean the Sun's spot production has been ... by circletimessquare · · Score: 4, Funny

    please people, please, do not go into the CVS unless the change is major enough to warrant the attention. every little class tweak is not Changelog-worthy. There are a lot of eyes reading this CVS, and we don't want to be too verbose. And as for pregnancy...

    wait, what?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it