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The Sun's 'Quiet Period' Explained

Posted by Soulskill on from the ra-needs-naps-too dept.

Arvisp writes with this excerpt from the BBC: "Solar physicists may have discovered why the Sun recently experienced a prolonged period of weak activity. The most recent so-called 'solar minimum' occurred in December 2008. Its drawn-out nature extended the total length of the last solar cycle — the repeating cycle of the Sun's activity — to 12.6 years, making it the longest in almost 200 years. The new research suggests that the longer-than-expected period of weak activity may have been linked to changes in the way a hot soup of charged particles called plasma circulated in the Sun."

1 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Solar Cooling! Man is at it again! by GooberToo · · Score: -1, Redundant

    Oh my gawd! Solar cooling! Won't someone thinking of the children! This is obviously the work of man and industry. According to all known publications on global warming, any deviation from historic trends means man is completely behind the deviation.

    We should immediately start nuking the sun to spur increased solar activity.

    I sincerely hope moderators understand tongue in cheek humor.