* Astronomy

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Home -> Astronomy News -> Events -> Sunspots
Post Info
TOPIC: Sunspots
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Solar Cycle 24
Permalink  
 

An international panel of experts led by NOAA and sponsored by NASA has released a new prediction for the next solar cycle. Solar Cycle 24 will peak, they say, in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots.

"If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78" - panel chairman Doug Biesecker of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Centre.

Read more

__________________
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
RE: Sunspots
Permalink  
 

As a confessed Galileo groupie, I chose to hold my personal observance of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy on this summit in the San Gabriel Mountains east of Los Angeles. All around the world, astronomy enthusiasts are collaring the uninitiated to look skyward and see the things Galileo saw, from mountains on the moon to the star lanes of the Milky Way. But here at the Mount Wilson Observatory, a few astronomers still pursue an archaic artistic activity that Galileo pioneered: They make daily drawings of sunspots.
Read more

__________________
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Solar Cycle 24
Permalink  
 

Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Update released May 8, 2009
The Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Panel has not issued any updates to their prediction.   However, the Space Weather Prediction Centre, and the Chair of the Prediction Panel decided to implement what they believe to be an obvious change to the plotted data.  The two predictions, of maximum being either a SSN of 90 or a SSN of 140 remain intact.  Once the date of solar minimum is known, that is all the information needed to arrive at a prediction curve.  The panel prediction of solar minimum in March, 2008 has been eclipsed.  Minimum will now occur no earlier than August, 2008.  For every month beyond March 2008 that minimum slips, it is necessary to shift the prediction curves by the same amount.  SWPC commenced doing so in mid-February and will continue to do so, unless or until the prediction panel sets a new predicted date for the time of solar minimum.

Read more

__________________
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
RE: Sunspots
Permalink  
 

The sun is moving into a busier period for sunspots. Forecasters expect a relatively mild outbreak by historical standards, but one major solar storm can cause havoc with satellites and electrical systems.

Read more

__________________
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

Coronal mass ejection may 5 2009


Astronomers are watching the edge of the sun, waiting for the emergence of an active region that produced a bright CME on May 5th. At the time of the explosion, the blast site was hidden behind the sun's eastern limb, but now solar rotation is turning the region toward Earth for a better view. Will a sunspot appear to break the monotony of the blank sun? Stay tuned.

__________________
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

What the quiet Sun means for us



__________________
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

The Sun is the dimmest it has been for nearly a century.
There are no sunspots, very few solar flares - and our nearest star is the quietest it has been for a very long time.
The observations are baffling astronomers, who are due to study new pictures of the Sun, taken from space, at the UK National Astronomy Meeting.

Read more

__________________
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

The sunspot cycle is behaving a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower.
The year 2008 was a bear. There were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year's 366 days (73 percent). To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days. Prompted by these numbers, some observers suggested that the solar cycle had hit bottom in 2008.
Maybe not. Sunspot counts for 2009 have dropped even lower. As of March 31st, there were no sunspots on 78 of the year's 90 days (87 percent).

Read more

__________________
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

The Sun Shows Signs of Life
After two-plus years of few sunspots, even fewer solar flares, and a generally eerie calm, the sun is finally showing signs of life.

Read more

__________________
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

Complicated networks of magnetic fields power the sun's atmosphere and create both the beautiful structures and violent explosions that scientists study. Active regions, anchored in sunspots, are areas of the sun where the concentrated magnetic fields that give rise to these phenomena are extremely strong. Measured in ultraviolet or X-ray wavelengths these regions appear bright against the cooler surface.
Using new information from Hinode, an international mission to study the sun, scientists have found that the dim areas at the edges of active regions may hold the key to understanding how the sun converts vast amounts of energy from its surface into the solar wind. The solar wind is a stream of electrically conductive gas, flowing out from the sun that defines the Earth's space environment. Previously, solar researchers believed that solar wind originated in areas of the sun away from active regions. This new discovery indicates that solar wind may have a second origin.

Read more

__________________
«First  <  1 … 4 5 6 7  >  Last»  | Page of 7  sorted by
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
Home -> Astronomy News -> Events -> Sunspots


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse 		Powered by ActiveBoard