#solar cycle

[zerostatereflex]

Solar Cycle:

"The solar cycle (or solar magnetic activity cycle) is the periodic change in the sun's activity (including changes in the levels of solar radiation and ejection of solar material) and appearance (visible in changes in the number of sunspots, flares, and other visible manifestations). Solar cycles have an average duration of about 11 years." The top animation shows our Sun in a rather quite state, say the bottom of the solar cycle where very few sun spots, solar flares are visible, whereas the lower animation shows the Sun in high solar activity.

We are currently in Solar Cycle 24

[spacenik]

NGC 3576 or the Ibex Nebula which looks like a celestial Ibex mountain goat with those striking horn like nebulous clouds, is situated near the Southern Cross – a four star constellation in the southern hemisphere

Credit: Flickr : Strongmanmike2002

[itsokaytobesmart]

Solar Minimum; Solar Maximum

Our Sun goes through an eleven year cycle of solar activity, and sunspots and flares will be reaching their peak next year. The NASA images above, captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), are photographic proof.

Increased solar activity can mean good things for aurora-watchers, but can be disruptive to our satellites and communications if some of that million-degree plasma gets ejected in our direction. That's hot stuff.

Random fact: The NASA SDO mission has a chicken named Camilla for a mascot, with a Twitter account. But shouldn't it be called a "Clucker" account, since it's a chicken?

(via NASA)

[sciencesoup]

Our Spotty Sun

Our Sun may be middle-aged, but that doesn't stop it from having a teenager's spots.

The photosphere, the surface layer of the Sun, is a balmy 5800 degrees Kelvin. It’s composed of convection cells called granules, which are columns of hot plasma that rise and descend as they heat up and cool down, creating convection currents on the surface. The Sun also has a magnetic field 100 times as strong as the Earth’s. At solar minimum, you can picture the field as like that of a giant bar magnet, with huge loops from pole to pole, but as the sun rotates and approaches solar maximum, odd things begin to happen.

The Sun spins on its axis every 25.4 days, but it doesn’t rotate evenly. It experiences differential rotation, where the equator spins faster than the poles. This twists up the magnetic field lines, making them tangled and complicated—and, in places, up to 10,000 times stronger than the rest of the field.

Since intense magnetic fields inhibit the convection of heat, these strong, twisted parts of the magnetic field create fascinating phenomena called sunspots. Typically a few thousand kilometres across, sunspots are dark “holes” in the Sun that appear near the equator during solar maximum. Really, they’re just patches that are much cooler than the rest of the Sun, making them appear much darker, almost black.

Sunspots vary over a period of 11 years, with both their location and intensity changing periodically. Their variation can be beautifully described by a Butterfly Diagram, which shows that that sunspots first form at mid-latitudes (+/- 35 degrees of latitude), then widen and move progressively closer to the equator as the cycle wears on.

Every 11 years, the magnetic field of the Sun flips over so the north pole becomes the south, and vice versa, so the Sun’s activity varies according to a 22 year cycle—11 years to flip one way, another 11 to flip back to how it was originally.

Solar activity is directly correlated to the number of sunspots: as sunspots increase, the solar activity increases, and so does energy output from the sun. Some evidence suggests that the energy changes throughout the solar cycle affect Earth’s climate. No consensus has been reached yet, but it’s thought that the energy fluctuations don’t cause change in weather, only in global climate. Careful satellite measurements tell us that total solar energy varies 0.1% over an 11-year cycle, which changes Earth’s global tropospheric temperature by 0.5 to 1 degree Celsius.

One famous example is the Maunder Minimum, when from 1645 to 1715, the number of sunspots reduced radically. Over 30 years, only 50 were observed, as opposed to the 40,000 – 50,000 observed in that same time today. This prolonged sunspot minimum coincided with a “Little Ice Age”, where Europe and North America experienced particularly cold winters.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

[spaceplasma]

The Sun’s 11-year cycle

The solar cycle (or solar magnetic activity cycle) is the periodic change in the Sun's activity (including changes in the levels of solar radiation and ejection of solar material) and appearance (visible in changes in the number of sunspots, flares, and other visible manifestations). 

Until recently it was thought that there were 28 cycles in the 309 years between 1699 and 2008, giving an average length of 11.04 years, but recent research has showed that the longest of these (1784–1799) seems actually to have been two cycles, so that the average length is only around 10.66 years.

The solar cycle was discovered in 1843 by Samuel Heinrich Schwabe, who after 17 years of observations noticed a periodic variation in the average number of sunspots seen from year to year on the solar disk. Rudolf Wolf compiled and studied these and other observations, reconstructing the cycle back to 1745, eventually pushing these reconstructions to the earliest observations of sunspots by Galileo and contemporaries in the early seventeenth century. Starting with Wolf, solar astronomers have found it useful to define a standard sunspot number index, which continues to be used today.

[christinetheastrophysicist]

Solar Cycle Update: Twin Peaks?

Something unexpected is happening on the sun.  2013 is supposed to be the year of Solar Max, the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. Yet 2013 has arrived and solar activity is relatively low.  Sunspot numbers are well below their values in 2011, and strong solar flares have been infrequent for many months.

The quiet has led some observers to wonder if forecasters missed the mark. Solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center has a different explanation: 

"This is solar maximum," he suggests. "But it looks different from what we expected because it is double peaked."

Read More.

[cozydark-blog]

Just like weather on earth, Space-weather has its seasons - with solar activity rising and falling over an approximately 11 year cycle. (Image: NASA, NOAA)

[chillahead-bridge]

grave mistakes

inspired by @arrival-layne‘s good good angst art for jim, a mini-au about a what-if scenario about the grave sand having some... side effects on humans. (AO3 version)

TWs: body-horror, mouth horror, blood, description of injuries and violence. enjoy and stay safe!

------------------------------

Grave sand burns.

It’s bare seconds, passing in a painful flash- but Jim feels the grit scrape against his sinuses, leaving his airways raw as he hacks, lungs struggling to supply him air. And then it’s over, just like that, and a surge of energy washes over him. Like stepping into the cold depths of a pool, diving deep downwards.

“How do you feel?” Strickler asks him, watching him with sharp eyes.

“Angrier,” Jim replies, voice rough. He feels himself smile. The energy- the emotion- it’s pulsing through his veins. It’s incredible. It’s intoxicating.

“Good,” Strickler says, bursting into brilliant green arcs of light as his body twists and changes, horns curving over his skull as he raises his head. “Use that anger,” he encourages with a grin of deadly fangs.

Jim can feel himself shivering, deep inside, at the blatant challenge. An invitation to fight. The Amulet responds to his silent call- wrapping him in its armor and power, forming Daylight in his grip. Another flash of light and Jim glances over his shoulder, seeing Nomura stalk predatorily towards him with her blades.

Two highly skilled opponents. Both of whom have fought him to a standstill before. Jim feels no fear. He snarls right back at the changelings, reveling in the way he feels. He’s stronger, he’s faster, his heart races and his throat aches, and he meets his mentors’ attacks with zero hesitation.

It’s a blur, for a few euphoric moments, where there’s nothing but Jim, his weapon, and the changelings he’s beating back. Jim growls, shouts wordlessly- he kicks the larger, heavier changelings across the floor more than once, keeping up and surpassing them as they clash. Strickler has no close-range weapon, he falls back all too quickly. Nomura is brutal and unyielding, but she doesn’t expect the strength Jim has now. Her swords clatter against stone, her skull impacts against the wall he shoves her into, her claws shriek over the metal of his shield and Jim presses harder-

The interruption that comes will be something he’s grateful for, later. In the moment, however, Jim steps back from Nomura and turns to his first and dearest mentor, and all he sees is someone interfering with his victory.

Jim points his blade at Blinky. He takes swings at him, though they’re not truly meant to harm. Just intimidate. His words come between coughs, the energy in his body beginning to hum fiercely, urging him to fight more, to give it outlet-

“Master Jim, look at me,” Blinky says, holding him carefully but firmly. Jim tries to pull away, but the troll keeps talking, keeps him close and still. The words that come are warm, soothing, “-for your human heart,” and it pulls him back up from the depths.

Jim steps back, coughing harder as the corrosive enhancer in his body shifts. The Amulet’s power recedes, the armor vanishing; releasing him from the bloodthirst. He’s sickened, as his head clears, by the fact that he’d fallen so deeply into that desire.

“I’m- sorry,” Jim rasps, coughing still, “I- I lost myself.” He tries to say thank you, but the coughing won’t stop and he bends, pounding a fist against his chest.

Blinky turns on Strickler, launching into an angry conversation with him. Their clash of mentalities grows distant as Jim keeps coughing. His ears are starting to ring. His throat aches.

“Jim?” Nomura’s voice asks, a hand touching his back. Jim tries to respond but can’t get a single word out. He’s beginning to hyperventilate, but he can’t stop, coughing as the grave sand does something- else. Before it’d been flowing through him, circulating the unnatural aggression and energy. Now it’s- it feels like it’s seeping into something deeper, like it’s forcing itself into the rest of his body-

A lightning strike of agony abruptly explodes in his chest. Jim can’t even cry out, robbed of air.

“Jim!” shouts Blinky, but Jim can’t raise his head and look to him. The pain radiating from his ribcage is climbing, spreading outwards.

His fingers, his jaw, his eyes- Jim only hears the thundering of his own heart as he clutches at his mouth, deaf to whatever is happening around him. Oh god, the pressure is building, pushing to escape, make it stop, he’ll do anything, just make it STOP-

Something gives, a sweet relief of pressure for a split second, and then iron liquid fills his mouth and a new kind of throbbing pain takes the other’s place. Jim doubles over completely and heaves, red and spit splattering the stone. Jim coughs and shudders, tears blurring his vision as he gasps raggedly.

Little white pearls fall into the slurry, one by one.

Those are teeth, Jim thinks outside the pain, just as his eyes roll back and he passes out.

 -/-

 “For what it’s worth, young Atlas… we were unaware these particular side effects could occur.”

Jim doesn’t look at Strickler or Nomura. He keeps his eyes fixed on a corner of the room, focused on the rough-hewn walls of it.

“We’re already looking into a way to reverse it,” Nomura adds in a subdued tone. Jim still doesn’t answer, or acknowledge their presence.

“I swear it,” Strickler says, low and sad, “we will fix this for you, and I am deeply, deeply sorry for allowing this- to happen, to you.”

Jim curls his fists into the blanket covering his legs.

“Leave,” he manages to say, throat hoarse. “W- we’ll talk. Later. But for now…”

“Of course,” Strickler says softly, and that’s the end of it. The two changelings walk out, drawing the curtain closed; leaving Jim to sit in Blinky and Arrrgh’s bedroom, wrapped in an overlarge blanket and shadows to hide within.

Gingerly, with a hesitant hand, Jim reaches to poke at his aching jawline. The claw that’d burst from under his nail throbs in time with the teeth he presses against.

Jim hasn’t looked in a mirror, but he knows. He’s already searched his face and body- he knows about the teeth, the claws, the point to his ears, the way his vision is perfectly suited to the dark room he’s in… He knows what it all means, what it all looks like.

He drops his hands to the blanket and twists them into fists again, hunching over his knees and shaking. Tears drop onto the fabric not for the first time today, an echo of his teeth falling out of his mouth.

The parallel forces him to unlock his clenched jaw and let out a wounded cry. His voice wavers and cracks, the internal damage done by the grave sand persisting still. Jim doesn’t spare a thought of concern that he might worsen the injuries; the noise pours out of him and he couldn’t stop it even if he wanted to.

The curtain is suddenly yanked open and he hisses, flinching and covering his sensitive eyes. “Oh- shit, shit, I’m sorry Jimbo,” says a more than familiar voice, and the curtain is hastily closed again. Jim doesn’t even have time to blink the spots out of his vision before two sets of arms are thrown around him.

“Blinky told us what happened,” Claire rushes out, fingers already shifting to touch the ruined parts of him, searching, caressing- “Oh, Jim, how could they? Why- god- I’ll, I’ll strangle them both-”

“Should’ve never left you alone with them,” Toby says to the crook of Jim’s shoulder, squeezing his middle so tightly it hurts, but in a good way. “I should’ve- we should’ve been there, maybe then we’d’ve been able to steer you off this fucking- this horrible idea, what were you thinking?”

“I- I just-” Jim stutters, trying to answer both of them. His hands hover, not quite touching them, keeping the claws away from their human skin. “I need to get stronger,” he says, the mantra he’s been repeating for what feels like ages now. “They were just helping me, I asked them to, and- I’m the one who, who let Strickler- it’s my own fault.”

“Bullshit,” Claire curses, eyes blazing. “They did this, they hurt you and I’m going to- to-”

“Drop them into the shadow dimension forever?” Toby suggests in a dark tone.

“Yes,” Claire hisses vindictively.

“Guys, no, we need them, they were just doing what I- what I asked them-” Jim breaks off as he loses his voice, biting his lip and slicing into the thin skin immediately. Right, he has fangs, small but sharp fangs that jut up over his lip in an overtly inhuman way, something nothing short of removing them can fix, and oh god how will he hide this from his mom? How is he supposed to hide his ears? His eyes?

“What am I gonna tell my mom?” Jim whispers harshly, and starts crying in earnest.

Claire makes a wordless noise of anger and sadness, carding her fingers through his hair and letting a few of her own tears slip free. A tissue is pressed gently to his bleeding lip, held in place by Toby as he looks at Jim, brushing away his tears while ignoring the ones on his own face.

Jim wants to curl up and hide himself, cover up the pieces of himself he tainted, cheating for power. But he’s held between his two closest confidants and he can’t bring himself to pull away, instead slumping into the hold, burrowing into their comfort and care and clinging to that safety.

 -/-

 Sometime later: Claire holds his hand without fear of the claws that’ve grown there; Toby pokes the tips of his ears and jokes about Lord of the Rings. They beam at him pointedly until Jim will nervously smile back, not letting him sink further into his mire of self-loathing.

The adults shuffle back and forth behind the curtained entrance, unsubtly checking on the three of them. Sooner than later, they’ll be pulled out of the safely shadowed nest they’re huddling in. But not yet, as stated firmly by Claire when Blinky comes to ask after them.

Jim huffs, embarrassed by the fuss everyone is making over him, pressing his face into the softness of Toby’s sweater vest to hide his flush. Claire’s lithe arms wind around his waist and hold him like wrought iron, refusing to let him slip away even a little. Toby’s arms are warmer, stronger, wrapping around both of them best he can and helping their trio lower themselves gently onto the wide pillows that make up the bed.

Jim’s future has become even more uncertain, another trial added to his seemingly endless path to their ultimate goal. But for a moment between the three of them, tangled up and shielding themselves from that uncertain future, he can breathe easy.

[tallbluelady]

Solar Cycle

2.1k

Books selected, Urianger raided the larder for any easy to transport food stuffs for his personal Heaven's Turn celebration. He spotted a pot of mun-tuy that Rowan had given him... but alas, twas empty. He then remembered that was from before last Heaven's Turn, so it was likely for the best. Still, now that he had seen the pot, he found himself wishing for the silky texture of Gelmorran mun-tuy.

Even without his food of choice, Urianger found enough to snack on while he read under the stars. Blanket, books, candles, food, and sparkling wine set in a basket, he made his way upstairs. And found a very surprised Rowan at the top of them as he opened the door.

"Oh, Urianger!" She was carrying a few small pots in her arms. "Are you going somewhere else for Heaven's Turn? You're not wearing your usual garb."

"Nay, not in the sense that thou meanest, milady. I only mean to ascend to the roof to watch the stars whilst I read, and that is harder to achieve with goggles on," he admitted, "Wherefore hast thou come hither on this night of celebration?"

"Ahh..." She shifted some of the pots uncomfortably. "I... err... Thancred said you were wont to have a quieter celebration than everyone else. The Stones is currently too rowdy for my taste... And I wasn't quite in the mood to spend the night with my mother's friends asking me if I had a man in my life... so I thought I'd spend it with you."

Urianger could only blink a few times as he tried to process what she had said.

"If - if that's alright with you." Rowan swallowed.

He shook his head and smiled. "Thou art more than welcome to join me. Dost thou need to set thy burden down in the Sands proper?"

"They're pots of mun-tuy, actually. I remembered you liked it, so I stole some from my mother's before heading here."

After some rearranging of packs and getting another glass for Rowan, the two of them made it to the roof. It was a beautifully clear night to see the stars arrayed in the heavens. The streets of Vesper Bay were relatively quiet, with only a bit of noise spilling out of the Pissed Pieste. Urianger found himself smiling as Rowan took in a deep breath of the salty air.

"So you do this every year?" she asked as he laid out the blanket for the picnic.

"Should circumstances allow, I do. Twas a habit borne out of avoidance. Moenbryda found me one year and we would spend it thusly ever since."

"Is it hard to do this without her?"

He shrugged. "I had been practicing the tradition alone when I took to Eorzea's shores. That first year in this country had been trying, but I was also left bereft of Master Louisoix's company that previous summer."

"What about last year's?"

"I hadn't the chance. To facilitate Elidibus' plans, I had to forgo last Heaven's Turn."

"Oh." Rowan's face took a melancholic look as he lit the candles.

"But with any hope, we may leave that terrible business with the last Solar Cycle." Urianger reclined on a cushion next to her. "And mayhap we'll only have good news for the next."

"Ha, don't jinx it. With how ridiculous the last two have been, I think we qualify for living in 'interesting times'."

"Then I pray that we survive such times until they become utterly dull," Urianger said, "Though that may leave us unemployed."

"You, a scholar of Sharlyan without aught to do? I'm sure you could think of some subject of study to keep you busy." She took a spoonful of mun-tuy and smirked.

He gave her a conceding nod as he remembered the equation for the amethyst carbuncle he was occasionally scratching at. "Thou dost have the right of that, I must admit. But what of thee? What wouldst thou do if not pressed by urgent needs?"

Rowan sighed and hugged her knees close to her. "This might sound strange or silly considering he fought at Charteneau, but I'd try to find my brother Ellant. They found my father's body after the battle, but there wasn't any trace of Ellant. Not his quiver, not his flute. Not even the locket he took with him. So mayhap by some miracle, he's still out there. Why he hasn't made his way back home is still a mystery but..."

"I would fain help thee in thy search," Urianger offered almost immediately.

She paused, but gave him a half smile. "I know you would. You all would, honestly. Alisaie always points to various Duskwight men asking me if they're Ellant."

"Even if the man in question doth not resemble thy mother?"

"She still does! I don't recall if she ever even met my mother properly, much less have an idea of what he would look like. I think she pointed at a rather skinny Roegadyn man once!"

 The two of them shared a laugh at that. Her eyes were glittering in the candle light as she smiled.

Urianger found himself caught in the soft silver of her eyes, so he turned and took out a book of poetry. "I was only going to read these silently, but I suppose that thou wouldst enjoy a recitation."

Rowan nodded. "Aye, that I would. Is this one particular poet or a collection?"

"Tis a collection of poems of the natural phenomena of the Star. The editor found it fit to organize it by season, and I take the chance to remember the past year as I read through them."

"I think my mother has this one, is it The Silent Regard of Stars?"

As it turned out, it was indeed The Silent Regard of Stars, and Rowan volunteered to read a few of the verses herself. The two took turns holding the candle close enough to the book so the other could read. Urianger had to admit their proximity made the whole thing rather intimate but... mayhap it wasn't a bad thing to become closer with his colleague. She certainly didn't seem to mind it.

Rowan read through her chosen poems with a clear, melodic voice. Where she stressed some of the syllables were different than his, but they were oft to the poems' benefit, he had to admit. The words flowed from her mouth as though they were written to be delivered in her voice, and her voice alone.

Oh.

"Urianger?" Rowan asked softly when there was a lull between them.

"Yes, milady?" He realized how lovely his name sounded coming from her voice.

"Tis nearly midnight."

"So it is."

"Shouldn't we pour the wine to toast the new year?"

He shook his head. They hadn't even gotten to the wine with how enraptured they had been in the verses. "Oh, aye, of course, we shouldn't let this vintage go to waste."

Though he found himself loathe to turn from her, he moved the candle so he could see the wine bottle and glasses. Rowan set the book down and held her glass. Both poured, they held them to each other. The patrons of the pub were loud enough that they could trust the crowd to count down to the new year.

"Dost thou have a toast in mind?"

"I do... it's one from Count Fortemps." She cleared her throat. "To those we have lost, and to those we can yet save."

Urianger nodded and repeated it. They touched their glasses as the old year slipped away and started the new one fresh with the wine on their lips.

"Oh, that is good." Rowan smacked her lips after finishing her toast. "Did you ever get too drunk to get down afterwards?"

"Moenbryda and I did stumble into that situation once or twice. We found a more secluded location after the first time." Urianger smiled, remembering how the two of them had cuddled together until the world stopped spinning.

Rowan gave a little hum and topped off each of their glasses. "Do you have a particular toast before the occasion fades?"

Urianger thought for a moment, then smiled. "To finding that which is lost, and finding them whole and hale."

Rowan smiled and they touched their glasses again. Seeing her in this happy state, he found that he had another toast.

"This is really good, honestly," Rowan said, "But I don't know if I want to indulge too much."

He nodded. "I do see the wisdom in that. Yet I do have one last toast ere we drain our cups."

She nodded and raised her glass in preparation.

"To seeing ourselves in this blessed state next year."

"To making sure that it happens."

The two of them touched their glasses one last time and finally drained their goblets. Rather than clean up, however, the two of them just sat and admired the heavens. Clear, twinkling stars shone through the chill of the night air. Urianger turned to see that Rowan was concentrating very intently on the sky.

"Is aught amiss?" he asked.

She continued to look at the sky. "Not if I can find what I'm looking for."

"Art thou seeking one of the Heaven's Gates?" He had heard from Alphinaud that Rowan had been researching astrology in an attempt to learn more of the magic arts.

She turned to him. "I am, actually. I don't know if I'm truly able to practice the astrologian's art, but I find the connection to the stars in the heavens to be fascinating."

"I fail to see why thou couldst not. After all, thou hast managed to revive the dead art of Red Magic along with Mistress Alisaie."

Rowan shrugged. "That feels different; there's a much more physical component to the casting of Red Magic. You have to find the connection to yourself in that art. And despite my favor of the stars at night, I can't seem to find the connection to them. I know there should be one of the Heaven's Gates visible here, but I am completely lost as to where it is in the expanse."

Urianger thought for a moment, then remembered that at this time of year and at this location... "There it is - the Bole." He pointed at the constellation, tracing the shape of the bright stars that marked the contours of the World Tree. "Where...?" Rowan's head bobbed trying to find where he had pointed to. "Here." Urianger, bereft of some of his usual inhibition, reached around her to take her right hand in his and pointed to the first star. "The Bole consists of these six pale yellow stars. Most learn to find the center star, the trunk... then find the others as the branches... then the roots."

"Huh. That has to be the squattest constellation for a tree I could ever think of."

Urianger chuckled, dropping their hands. "Thou shouldst know that I had a similar reaction when I first was introduced to astrology. My teachers then explained that the color of the stars are due to their aetheric make-up. The first astrologians took inspiration of the aether for their subject rather than the shape it produced."

Rowan hummed her acknowledgement and started to lean into him. His heart leapt to his throat. He hadn't felt like this since he and Moenbryda were adolescents.

Then she started and moved back. "I, uh, er... ah, I suppose it's getting late. Mayhap we should retire?"

"Aye, mayhap twould be best we retire now, lest we catch a chill in the night air."

She nodded quickly and they packed up the picnic. With extra care, they climbed down from the Waking Sands roof without injury. After setting the basket in the kitchen and returning the wine to its rack, the two of them took their time to walk to the dormitory area of the Sands. He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he felt Rowan's hand brush his as they walked.

"You know, I never expected you'd keep the room for me," Rowan admitted when they got to her door.

"I am not wont to have to many guests, Rowan. Fewer still grant me with such delightful conversations as thee." Was that too much?

She looked down demurely at the compliment. Gods, was she always this humble? "I enjoy our conversations as well. I must admit, this was probably my favorite Heaven's Turn I've celebrated as an adult."

"Twas easily my favorite since arriving upon these shores."

She smiled again, and leaned against her door. "I hope we have a good year, Urianger. This was definitely a strong start."

"Verily."

Later, he would blame the wine - despite only having a single glass - for his taking her hand and kissing it. He would blame his cowardice for not taking the time to see her reaction as he turned to his room and locked himself in.

[spacenik]

Our sun is entering into a sleepy state of inactivity— a recurring phenomenon known as Solar Minimum.

A period of minimal solar activity, during which the surface solar movement diminishes, resulting in a trough in solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (CME) activities. Though it is a period of (relative) calm for the otherwise seething ball of energy, it doesn't hold any consequence(s) for us, as Earthlings. Sun, as we know it, will remain the same.

[hypnag0g]

my silly horses from the cursed timeline

[christinetheastrophysicist]

NASA's SDO Mission Untangles Motion Inside the Sun

Using an instrument on NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, called the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, or HMI, scientists have overturned previous notions of how the sun's writhing insides move from equator to pole and back again, a key part of understanding how the dynamo works. Modeling this system also lies at the heart of improving predictions of the intensity of the next solar cycle.

Using SDO, scientists see a performance of explosions and fountains on the solar surface. Shots of solar material leap into the air. Dark blemishes called sunspots grow, combine and disappear as they travel across the sun's face. Bright loops of charged particles – captured by magnetic fields dancing around the sun – hover in the atmosphere. This dynamic display is all powered by a complex, ever-changing magnetic current inside the sun known as the dynamo. This magnetic system flips approximately every 11 years, with magnetic north and magnetic south switching poles. This process is an integral part of the sun's progression toward a pinnacle of solar activity, known as solar maximum.

Read More.

[fathom-the-universe-blog]

Get ready for the big flip Astronomers say there are strong indications that the sun's magnetic field will flip in the next few months. The magnetic field of the sun is decreasing and the northern hemisphere has already changed signs. The south pole still needs to catch up This flipping of magnetic poles is part of the natural solar cycle. Every eleven years or so the sun will undergo magnetic reversal, meaning the magnetic poles swap around. The reversal happens in the peak of the solar cycle, when the sun is very active. This is called solar maximum. Magnetic reversal of the sun will send a ripple through the entire solar system. The influence of the sun's magnetic field is called the heliosphere which extends beyond the orbit of Pluto. The sun sends out a giant rotating sheet of electrical activity from its equator called the current sheet. This current sheet only has a very low amount of current, but it is enormous, so its influence is also very great. During the magnetic reversal, the current sheet starts to become wavy and the earth passes through these ripples like a ship on the ocean. Charged particles from the sun travel along the ripples causing extreme space weather on earth. We see this as the aurora. The sun's heliosphere also protects us from damaging cosmic rays.  Fathom the Universe Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34gNgaME86Y Image: Solar heliosphere sheet. Credit: NASA

[say-nada]

Om Unit + Kromestar - Solar Cycle

UTC Presents Om Unit & Kromestar @ Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath. £3 all night. 

Check the event page for more details @ https://www.facebook.com/events/138533669580514/

Goosensei SN05 @ http://www.mixcloud.com/xxxeye/sn05-goosensei/

[jwhughesx]

[spacenik]

Annular or the Ring Of Fire solar eclipse is tomorrow

The time of maximum eclipse, when that "ring of fire" event happens, will be at 2:40 a.m. EDT (0640 GMT) Sunday, June 21, when the moon crosses into the center of the sphere of the sun, from Earth's perspective. The eclipse starts at 11:45 p.m. EDT Saturday, June 20 (0345 GMT Sunday) and ends at 5:34 a.m. EDT (1034 GMT) June 20, according to NASA.

Regions in the path of visibility include the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, the Red Sea, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the Gulf of Oman, Pakistan, India, China, Taiwan, the Philippine Sea (south of Guam), northern Australia and the north Pacific Ocean.

Picture description : An annular solar eclipse as seen by Japan's Hinode spacecraft on May, 20, 2012.