The Sun Is Napping
How Low Can It Go? Sun Plunges Into The Quietest Solar Minimum In A Century
"This is the quietest sun we've seen in almost a century," agrees forecaster David Hathaway of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
I guess we can't expect the sun to continually produce sunspots, even it needs a break every once in awhile. But is that what's going on? Is it sleepy? Sick? Playing an inter-galactic game of hide and seek?
Perhaps we'll never know…
Tags: quiet, solar activity, sun, sunspots
spudart said,
The sun needs more chocolate-covered raisins. That's what it runs on. Scientists are mistaken. Sunspots are actually chocolate-covered raisins. It's about time we start sending the sun some more. Enough of the Bush-era science limits!
April 9, 2009 @ 9:58 am
sparx said,
That would explain why he gets rid of raisins by putting two scoops into every box of Raisin Bran – he only wants the chocolate covered ones!
April 9, 2009 @ 10:35 am
x-f said,
There is a theory, that states, that Sun now is back to its normal state. That it was more active in previous century than "usually" and now it just has calmed down.
I for myself don't think its current inactivity for just a few months longer is something special. We barely know what Sun has been doing, what has it been like during previous billions of years, so this silent time is, well, nothing, compared to its lifetime.
Keep in mind, that Sun's is being observed only from 19th century.
Besides, we still don't know for sure, why Sun has these cycles of activity at all.
April 13, 2009 @ 11:52 pm