16 Jul
Posted in SF Feeds, Science by: Izaak Azimov
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16 Jul
Posted in SF Feeds, Science by: Izaak Azimov
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13 Jul
Posted in SF Feeds, Science by: Izaak Azimov
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07 Jul
Posted in SF Feeds, Science by: Izaak Azimov
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03 Jul
Posted in SF Feeds, Science by: Izaak Azimov
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01 Jul
Posted in SF Feeds, Science by: Izaak Azimov
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01 Jul
Posted in SF Feeds, Science by: Izaak Azimov
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01 Jul
Miami–In rough terms, the sun’s activity ebbs and flows in an 11-year cycle, with flares, coronal mass ejections, and other energetic phenomena peaking at what is called solar maximum and bottoming out at solar minimum. Sunspots, markers of magnetic activity on the sun’s surface, provide a visual proxy for the cycle’s evolution; they appear in droves at maximum and all but disappear at minimum. But the behavior of our host star is not as predictable as all that–the most recent solar minimum of late 2008 was surprisingly quiet and prolonged.
Solar physicists have offered a number of mechanisms to shed light on the solar cycle. Beyond improving fundamental scientific understanding, better predictions of solar behavior would help safeguard against electrical grid disruptions, damage to Earth-orbiting satellites and radiation threats to astronauts. In a press conference at the semiannual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in May, researchers laid out different approaches to tracking and predicting the sun’s activity, but the final explanation–or, more likely, explanations–for the sun’s curious recent lull remained opaque. “I think we’re almost in violent agreement that this is an interesting minimum,” said David Hathaway of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
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NASA – Sun – Marshall Space Flight Center – Sunspot – American Astronomical Society
Posted in SF Feeds, Science by: Izaak Azimov
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30 Jun
Posted in SF Feeds, Science by: Izaak Azimov
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30 Jun
Posted in SF Feeds, Science by: Izaak Azimov
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