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Solar Cycle 24 May Have Finally Begun
xyz writes "NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center reports that the number of sunspots in October for Solar Cycle 24 outnumbered Solar Cycle 23 for the first time, indicating the start of a new solar cycle. Solar activity was observed to be at a 50-year low, with no sunspots for 200 days this year."
This is my fault, I know! I'll start using those compact fluorescent bulbs soon!
so does this mean more incident solar radiation or less?
The sun is just uttering it's last spots before it truly dies.
This is clearly an advertising ploy for 24's return on November 23.
I observe solar cycles every day - the sun rises, then it sets. I'm pretty sure it's happened more than 24 times!!!
(For those that need a clue bat, the above is a joke and I do know what a solar cycle is).
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Is your software SC24-compliant?
THL phish sticks
Barack Obama is already fixing things!
someone get jack bauer to beat the crap outta the sun.
"they didn't know it was impossible, so they did it!" - Mark Twain
From the article: "There is also the matter of solar irradiance," adds Pesnell. "Researchers are now seeing the dimmest sun in their records. The change is small, just a fraction of a percent, but significant. Questions about effects on climate are natural if the sun continues to dim."
Even with the new sunspots of cycle 24, the sun is becoming...dimmer. "Dim sun" is the new climate buzzword for 2009 to replace 'greenhouse effect.'
Does this mean global warming is ready to start back up?
And the worst is yet to come. So they say. Expect even less sun spots next year.
I blame gay weddings and Obama Bin Laden.
The sun works on an 11 year cycle. There is also other smaller cycles that run in this. One is a 28 day cycle. These are very important to long range (and short range) communication. Ham(amateur) radio is very influenced(as well as commercial) by this. I am not going to try and explain the whole thing here but try this link for anone that would like to learn more about the sloar flux index, k index, a index etc.. http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/propagation/ionospheric/radio-propagation-prediction-solar-indices.php
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
Clearly no representation of black people by eliminating all the dark spots of the sun was racist.
I for one welcome our pimpled sun overlord.
actually, you idiot, the black spots ARE the sun spots. So... if anything he would be starting to bring in NEW black spots. Jesus, if your gonna be a racist, at least be an informed racist.
"Computers are a lot like Air Conditioners" "They both work great until you start opening Windows"
I blame gay weddings and Obama Bin Laden.
*whispers* It's because of all the buttsex...
Trivial, overused and absolutely unfunny.
Obviously there are practical problems in mounting an array of PV cells on a bicycle, but a tricycle would be better.
However I think that a better idea would be batteries powering the vehicle, andstations where you park them, with PV cells on the roof.
As a sysadmin this sun spot drought has been crippling us. Without the sun spot excuse we have been forced to actually admit that things are broken and get off our arse and fix them.
I wonder who is the idiot when the sun have had zero spots for 200 days ...
For a moment I was worried the sun is pregnant!
Can we detect or estimate the number of sunspots on the far side of the sun?
Their they're doing there hair.
I for one welcome our 24th Sun Cycle Overlord...
...sorry
This is obviously another Fox marketing stunt for the new 24 season.
During the past year, the arctic ice stopped receding and the layers of ice that usually form when winter arrives in the northern hemisphere were early. Consequently, global-warming debunkers were pointing at this as proof that global warming is not real.
My contention is that the solar-minimum caused the trend-reversal.
It will be interesting to see how the polar ice-caps and ice-sheets will fare during the next year, now that the sun has resumed (hopefully) its normal cycle.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
In all seriousness, I did overhear a group of guys at the service station pointing to the falling gas prices as an immediate example of the great things Obama is already doing for our country.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Just the other day I heard Rush Limbaugh explain, as stock prices fell, how Obama was already hurting the economy. The "logic" went something like "Obama is a communist and everyone knows he'll destroy the economy so they are selling stocks". There's always idiot supporters on both side of every debate, but it doesn't mean either side's argument is as stupid.
Barack Obama is already fixing things!
That's not the sun in the sky. That is Barack Obama, shining down warmth, love, and hope upon us.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
>Drinking water may cause cancer.
>Looking at the sun may cause blindness.
Well, my research indicates that nearly 100% of cancer victims were water drinkers, while only a statistically insignificant percentage of visually challenged individuals admit to staring into the sun. So there you have it, drinking water does cause cancer, and looking at the sun does not cause blindness.
This is a bit of a relief for those of us who study space weather and aurora and what not. It is hard to study things when they don't appear... There has been very little aurora or interesting weather in the last couple of years. Of course, studying the quiet time is important too... just not as interesting! Check out NOAA Space Weather for more information on space weather in the current solar conditions.
The truth of the matter is, we are all doomed. The lack of sunspots for 200 days in a row was sufficient to send the earth's climate spiraling towards an ice age. We are going to have 2000 feet high glaciers crashing through New York City any day now, and then they will melt because of global warming and wash the rest of the world away, causing the pent up pressure in the yellow stone supervolcano to be released, flooding the earth with meters thick of ash and molten magma. All of this activity will perturb the orbit of the earth about the sun just enough to put us in front of an NEO, which will impact the earth in 2012... and, just as the tidal wave of fire sweeps across the planet, the last Bush supporter will stand up and say, "Hey Obama people... even Bush wasn't -this- bad!"
This is my sig.
Apparently satirical humor escapes the average /. modder.
I've noticed 20m (14MHz) has been fairly open the last few weeks. I have made contacts in Japan four times in the last week or so from my mobile HF rig (FT-857 and ATAS-120 on a small pick-up truck.)
CQ DX, CQ DX, CQ DX de W7COM
73
-- I have a private email server in my basement.