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The Sun's Odd Behavior
gyrogeerloose writes "Most of us know about the sun's eleven-year activity cycle. However, relatively few other than scientists (and amateur radio operators) are aware that the current solar minimum has lasted much longer than expected. The last solar cycle, Cycle 24, bottomed out in 2008, and Cycle 25 should be well on its way towards maximum by now, but the sun has remained unusually quiescent with very few sunspots. While solar physicists agree that this is odd, the explanation remains elusive."
This is clear to everyone except the Denialists.
Its George Bush's fault.
I almost know nothing on the subject, but I'm thinking the 11 year cycle was empiricaly determined. One has to wonder do we have enough data on the subject compared to the age of the sun?
All these solar power devices are using the sun up.
We all know that something's up, but we have no idea what the underlying phenomena are, so we have not a clue as to why the sun is behaving the way it is.
Well, its good to see that there are still mysteries left in the universe.
We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
I thought this was about the newspaper bought by Rupert Murdoch.
(CATCHPA: maggot)
I don't know, you'd think a massive ball of fusion fire wouldn't need warning signs, but apparently some joker still managed to break it. For future reference, the Sun does not contain any user-servicable parts. Please try to remember this, or you will invalidate the warranty.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I see what's going on here. The Mayan were right!
...We are doomed I tell you, doomed.
On the one hand, outside the kind of geeky population represented by slashdot, I really doubt a lot of people know about the 11 year cycle. On the other hand, I've seen othee articles about the recent abnormally low period, and the subect also seems to come up frequently on the recurring global warming debate that seems to crop up in every third article. (Which isn't to say that more information about the subject isn't wanted of course.)
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Holy crap, it's coming!
"True refinement seeks simplicity."
It's the sun, it does whatever the f it wants.
Explains the odd behavior. Read read about it on Slashdot. Not long ago. Or maybe it was long ago, in Slashdot time. No, I won't look it up for you, because you kids are pissing me off!
The explanation is simple: the Sun is actually getting hotter, but the climatologists, in their conspiracy to frame things like the Earth was getting warmer due to greenhouse gasses, have forged all records to make it seem like the Sun was at low activity instead. That way the warming climate is blamed on human activity.
I will consider all replies and downmods to this post as further evidence of the Anthropogenic Global Warming Conspiracy. If you disagree with me, you're obvilously a paid chill or a poor, deluded fool. Or maybe you're just an evil ecoterrorist who wants to destroy our economy despite knowing better.
Go on, conspirators! Give me your best shot!
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
because Sun was acquired by Oracle.
The Sun has better and more important things to do than to adhere to our primitive line of thought.
The following analogy comes to mind:
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/the_search.png
Odd, I just met a an eccentric young man with a bow tie, tweed jacket and braces. He owned a small wooden blue box (about the size of a beach hut) and he said that this was a harbinger of doom and that the sun would go out if he didn't do something about it. He dashed off with a pretty young female in tow....but it's pretty cold and overcast now, so maybe the end is nigh!
Hurf durf, I'm a closet-republican trying to make the other side look bad. Nobody will figure it out. Durr, I R smart!
Over the past few hundred years, the solar cycle has regularly varied from as short as 9 years to as long as 14*. The tone of the summary (and the S.A. article) make this sound as if it is a new thing.
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_solar_cycles
A.
...bringing you cynical quips since 1998
Hasn't anyone else noticed that the Maunder Minimum (q.v.) corresponded almost exactly with the period covered by The Baroque Cycle? Started with the death of Charles I and ran to the coronation of George I. Who is our 21st century Waterhouse and where is Enoch Root when we need him?
It's simple, the Sun is conspiring with Earth to get rid of us. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire Milky Way is part of the conspiracy, in an effort to keep us from invading other parts of it.
An analogy would be that of the doctor (Sun) working together with the patient (Earth) to get rid of an infection (human race). This happens in a hospital (Milky Way), whose staff is interested in destroying the infection too.
If the sun missed it's last "cycle", maybe one of the "probes" used to "explore" forgot to use adequate "shielding" and now the sun is pregnant.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Don't you know that plants have been using the Sun's energy for millions of years, no wonder there is nothing left! The solution is simple: burn the forests.
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
Cycle 23 bottomed out in 2008. We're now into cycle 24. That said, Cycle 24 is following fairly closely the Dalton minimum of the early 1800s.
Larry Ellison. Its not been the same since Oracle took it over.
It gets worse though, it seems they are trying to turn open office into a commercial rpoduct.
""Most of us know about the sun's eleven-year activity cycle."[citation needed]
British Petroleum's new mascot: http://imgur.com/3JFae.jpg
When James Gosling left.
gota be it. The global warming refracted too many of the sun's rays back, and stopped the core of the sun. Any day now, it will be a red giant, and we'll just be swallowed up by it (when it expands this far, natch).
WolframAlpha recently added space weather, including sunspot activity. Seems to me that the next cycle is just a bit of a late riser.
The Sun is being outsourced which means longer hold times and incomprehensible activity in response to the question being asked.
Darn, someone beat me to the punchline. So. Did anyone check to see if it's still plugged in?
No, the sun isn't having its cycle because it's pregnant. DUH.
(Also am I the only one who thought Sun as in the company?)
Duh... it's George Bush's Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator! It's a conspiracy between Marvin and Old Georgie Boy to put out the sun since it's obviously the cause of global warming.
Smoked Suns Pot all day. Didn't feel a thing.
Should we start building Magellan? And who gets on board? A good chance to get rid of all those telephone sanitizers, you know.
Ezekiel 23:20
I believe the establishment is in denial. There is a long history of literature investigating the correlations between orbital resonances and solar activity. Hopefully, the next two or three cycles will resolve the relative standing of forcing factors.
Someone make sure the dolphins are still here.
Obviously, the Imperium has struck a deal with the Darrians to destabilize the Solomani Confederation by striking at the capital system.
Sorry, had to be done.
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
Hold on, let me consult the oracle about that.
... for the solar explosion in 2012 that wipes out all life. Mayan calendar FTW!
That is all.
Just getting ready for 2012.
the sun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_sun
and not the Sun http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ -
two entirely different things in those lands where one speaks the Queen's English and the word take is not extinct.
Posts, MyBio or Sig, may contain satire, sarcasm, bolded nouns be sardonic or even witty & be Church of SD
The sun got spots and now they are missing? Might be because of the suncream
We humans are creating better insulation for our home, earth, in a desperate effort to reduce energy consumption. Now that everything this plan is working out fine, god is turning down the heating system.
Or, more seriously, the next ice-age is due soon (though technically already started - both poles are fully covered in ice), and reduced solar power output helps for sure.
We're all doome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111!!!!!!!!!!!
Nah, it is only oracle fault
If you want a solar story that adds a bit more mystery to the rehash of the current solar tale in the linked article, google up Livingston and Penn about the observations that the sunspot frequency is diminishing. In the past, the solar flux would match up to the sunspot number closely. Beginning some twenty some odd years ago, this century long curve matching parted ways. To sum up the mystery, in ten years time, solar cycles will continue. It's just there won't be any more sunspots. (a little hyperbole, but not as much as you think)
I think we've been doing a good job at that already!
I'll probably be ignored, but Native Americans have long known the sun to be on an (average) FIFTEEN (15) year cycle. They might have just been lucky it was low during their observations.
Enough said
I live in Seattle. What is this 'sun' you speak of?
Have gnu, will travel.
One of my hobbies is meteorology and as I'm in the UK there's no shortage of discussion about the weather!
Over on the various weather forums we've been discussing the solar minimum for the past couple of years, as in the UK at least there's a strong correlation between climatic cold spells and low sunspot activity (the Little Ice Age a few hundred years ago coincided with the Maunder minimum, for example). There was another minimum in the early 1800s, again coinciding with a colder period in the UK climate. It was during this time that Charles Dickens popularised the idea of a White Christmas, something which hasn't occured in 40 years here (30 miles east of London).
The effects are pretty immediate in climating terms, with an onset of years rather than decades. Although yes, the Sun's becoming more active there's been a lot of discussion as to whether the low solar activity was responsible for the coldest winter in 17 years in England (and longer than that in Scotland).
The Sun's effect on the climate is probably beyond any numerical weather prediction models at the moment but it'd be fascinating to see what the effects would be if we were to experience a prolonged period of much lower solar activity than normal!
...claimed he would end boom and bust. This is what we got.
They are eating our Sun!
http://xkcd.com/673/
It's all Galactus' doing.
Admit nothing. Deny Everything. Make Counter-accusations.
No need to reject any theory. Simple undramatic already known explanation: there is some variability in Sun's cycle.
It is natural for us to think: I am special! When something slightly different happens during my lifetime, it must be something grand!
A few years from now on things will be back to normal. And we'll be trying to find something else special about our generation. How about the Jesus peoples' staple: the entire world will become to an end within my lifetime. Because I am just that special.
Which also has the desirable effect of creating a second source of bright light.
The Nagas of Upper Burma believe that the Sun shines by day, because, being a woman, she is afraid to come out at night.
Poor means hoping the toothache goes away.
Burning down all the forests just deals with the leaf inflation problem. Then you end up needing to send all your useless robots off to make planetary toupees.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
"What's not so gratifying is we have no clue why any of these effects are happening."
Well, it's not like they had any clue before as to why there was an eleven years' cycle, so the situation hasn't changed that much.
Rome taught me patience and assiduous application to detail. Virtues which temper the boldness of great, general views.
and you'll know what needs to be done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT8bGxFu4wA
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
The above link is proof that the gulf oil 'leak' is really a conspiracy by the PostgreSQL lobbyists to quash the competition on MySQL! We must not let this stand!!!
Combine this with simulations about how long it would take an Earth sized mass to form an cool and you can probably come up with reasonably accurate value for the age of the sun. Of course this is just off the top of my head - there may be better and more accurate techniques which geologists and astophysicists have developed.
Native Americans have long known the sun to be on an (average) FIFTEEN (15) year cycle.
They are demonstrably wrong. The data is unequivocal that the cycle has been 11 years in length for the past several hundred years. Look at the plot in this article. There is no way that this is in any way consistent with a 15 years cycle. There may be other, longer cycles which the sun goes though - certainly there are multiple cycles for Earth's ice ages - but there is no evidence whatsoever to support a 15 year cycle.
I assure you that we amateur radio operators are _very_ much aware that the sunspot activity is low for much longer than normal. There is much discussion about the Maunder Minimum
http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/SunspotCycle.shtml
and the American Radio Relay League has regular reports on sunspot activity and the lack thereof
http://www.arrl.org/news/the-k7ra-solar-update-113
Solar flux is very real to radio amateurs, thank you very much.
Reminds me of Flare* by Zelazny/Thomas: the unnaturally quiet sun bodes ill.
*not a recommendation of the novel, esp. for Zelazny fans.
Given the context of time to do the analysis of the SUN, which lets not forget is probably 6 billion years old, I doubt the so called "cycle" of sun spot activity is a cycle. If it is, then it probably is very short term and studying it is probably not going to in and of itself, allow scientists to gleem any information about the inner workings of the sun.
My guess, is that sun spot activity is a by product of the material composition of the sun, namely its rich metals content therefore studying it is sort of a waste of time if your desire is to understand how in actuality the sun works. So as the sun ages the metal content tends to increasingly flow to the surface, cooling more slowly due to its mass and causing the surrounding gases to (Hydrogen and Helium Plasma) to cool.
I have a theory that Sun Spots are not present in young stars that have high metal content like the sun. They are cooler, and do not have the energy levels to cause the kind of flows that would differentiate metal plasmas from Gas plasma's to the surface.
If I was a chemist I would be studying the sun spot cycle very much so, but I wouldn't studying sun spots if I wanted to learn how the sun works.
So this seems to me to be a bit of a waste of time from the Stellar mechanics view of things.
-Hack
Got Geometrodynamics? Awe, too hard to figure out? Too bad.
Louis XIV, the Sun King, took the throne in 1643. It took him two years to kill off the sunspots (after all he was only four when he ascended) but he was able to keep them away until his death, in 1715. I guess ole Louis just wore himself out keeping those sunspots away.
I knew to look that up because Isaac Asimov wrote about it. I remembered from when I was a kid.
We are currently over do for the de Vries (Suess) 205-210 year cycle. Hopefully it will just be a Dalton Minimum...
Maybe it's an 11 year cycle on top of a 400 year cycle. Maybe there's a number of cycles at work with odd harmonics and resonances that will appear from time to time.
their toll.
Maybe that crazed executive from SCO decided to take over running Sun...
No, wait a minute, wrong Sun...
wake up and hold your nose
When things get really quiet, isn't that just before it all goes horribly wrong?
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Jupiters late missing spot :)
I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
I thought The Sun, as in the newspaper.
Wait. Which b'ak'tun are we in again? Time to invent an enormous stone time machine and bug out, folks. LOL.
--
Toro
The Sun's sunspots actually have many periods. ~11 yrs, ~22, ~87, ~210, ~2300, ~6000 yrs. The overall sunspot count is a combination of these periods. So where are we in all of these cycles?
Sunspots are actually cold spots on the Sun's "surface" (photosphere). The Sun has many other layers (core, radiative, convective, photosphere, chromosphere, corona). I am sure that each layer has it's own phenomenon, with their own periodicities. Each layer, its features, and their periodicities, influence the layers around it, at least. The photosphere has, in addition to sunspots, granules and prominences. Do these also have periodicities? (yes, but we do not know them, and maybe aren't even looking for them yet) Because the Sun's overall output is the combination of all of them, not just sunspots.
And these phenomenom are not just surface effects, but also deep, like rotation, currents, etc. And interlayer interactions
Funny thing is, sunspots are cold spots. So why did we have a cold spell (ice age) during the Maunder minimum, which had almost no sunspots for many years? Probably because there was also a minimum of hot spots during the same time? So solar output overall fell? Maybe that means that the hot spots can be more important to overall solar output than the cold sunspots? And what are the hot spots? Solar prominences? Are there any other hot spots?
What are the similar featuress of the other layers, what are their preiodicities, and how can we detect these features and their periods, and their effect on overall solar output? And their effects on adjacent layers?
Can someone start working on making solar observation scientific?
wake up and hold your nose
The rate of current circulation increased during the solar minimum. Churning of plasma means that less heat is blasted into space. The coronal temperature increases gradually as a result. The solar flares everyone is familiar with is analogous to a boiling kettle. The lid of the kettle is the magnetic field of the sun confining its plasmas.
The sun's no longer spotting regularly... Solarpause.
Longer solar hiatus has tended to lead to stronger peaks.
I hope everyone has surge protectors.
The sun is pressing down the hit button to powerup for a big blast.
Be seeing you...
It's all Bush's fault, whatever it is.
Can someone please go and tell Chuck Norris to stop terrorizing the sun?
~X~
... Pray I do not alter it further.
The reason why the Sun's cycle is lasting longer than expected has been known by the astronomers and astrophysicists for many years, it's just that there is a news blackout on the subject. Have you also noticed that we have had record breaking weather around the World now for several years? Now, there is a gag order on reporting the weather records being broken. How about the Volcanoes, have you noticed the increase? I'm not just talking about Eyjafjallajoekull in Iceland, there 2 now active in Ecuador right now alone. How about the sensational (unexplained) sky swirl in Norway? Odd, don't you think? What's up with the Sink holes in the Eastern U.S. and how about the melting glaciers and pole ice? These and many more unusual Earth events are happening but the public doesn't really get to find out, as the USGS, U.S.Navy or NASA control your access to the information. Please, don't bother with the IOCC status quo pablum they've been pushing for years. Do you think that C.C. is gonna explain the Norway? The Volcanoes now? Take that out of the equation. I've been telling this story since '08, it is a highly magnetic small brown dwarf in the solar system with it's South pole pointed at the Sun for the last few years sucking out the magnetron particles and softening the Sun's normal cycle. Soon it will break free of the ecliptic, and Slashdot will be no more. Survivable though. subscribe to my newsletter to get the details. Chris Thomas.
I want the 10 meter band to open up damnit! Personally though, I blame Bush.
The problem comes when we try to fit in behaviors into our model, rather than have models to explain behavior. Sun does what it wants to do - Just because scientists observed something periodic, does not require the Sun to behave appropriately. For e.g., fitting employees performance to a Bell Curve (normalization curve) - Here we take data and fudge it to fit into the model for the sake of convenience of management. It might be of scientific interest to see why this happened, though. Just let the Sun be! Sriram
"CQ - CQ - Do you read me Smokey Bear?"
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
Could this delay be something like loading a spring? So that when the sun does complete its cycle, it then gives us an unusually big burn to make up for this extended cold period?
bwahahahhahhahhahaah
2012 is here !!
bwahahahahahahah !!
that we're just looking at the sun from the wrong side?
Don't you know that plants have been using the Sun's energy for millions of years, no wonder there is nothing left! The solution is simple: burn the forests.
That at least will push up the value of the leaf.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
So is Jupiter going to be kicked entirely out of the solar system? And about time too.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Proof that one man's +5 funny (or so I thought it would be) is another man's -1 troll.
My sig ought to have given away my position here, folks.
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
Don't be an idiot. The comment was supposed to be funny, jackass.
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
Also am I the only one who thought Sun as in the company?
Given that the Sun logo appears along side the story, I'd imagine that at least one Slashdot editor had the same thought...
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Are you mad? Give him 5 for this?!
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
I saw a documentary on this once:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448134/
Two more years, my friends.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_%28film%29
Nothing to worry about.
http://www.landscheidt.info/
THIS site goes into the physical reasons for the solar cycles. The positions of the 4 gas giants of the solar system pull the sun in a lobed orbit around the nominal center of he solar system. When we have an extended solar cycle (like we do now), Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are in the same quadrant and saturn is on the other side of the Sun. The positions of Uranus and Neptune are a little more critical inn their positioning, but the result for the Sun is that it is not pulled in its lobed orbit as far as normal. It is more at rest in the actual center of the solar system with smaller gravitational stresses. This reduction in the angular momentum of the Sun leads to reduced solar activity.