Daily Kos Sun's Magnetic Field Fading, No One Knows Why

Regular readers will know that Peacenik give great credence to many potential problems society faces. Swine flu. The economy. Food shortages. Peak oil. Global warming. Corruption. War. Incompetence. The price of beer. And on and on. Some correspondents wonder how Peacenik can sleep at night. Now Peacenik comes across this nugget, the sun's fading magnetic field. Peacenik doesn't even know what it means. But Peacenik thinks it portends doom. Peacenik thinks it is bad news. Peacenik wonders how many more problems the earth and mankind can cope with. Or will this in some perverse way be a positive? Maybe. Nobody knows. Peacenik is encouraged. Peacenik is an optimist.

by FishOutofWater

Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 05:07:32 PM PDT

Normal sunspot on left. Recent solar pore - sunspot with a weak magnetic field - on right.


The solar wind is the lowest ever measured, the sun has had most spotless days in 100 years, and the solar magnetic field is inexplicably fading away.

By National Solar Observatory FishOutofWater

(On the right) An image consisting only of pores—weak sunspots with no penumbral structure—taken from the (SOHO) spacecraft on 11 January 2009; this is an example of what is observed today at solar minimum.

* FishOutofWater's diary :: ::
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NASA solar physicist David Hathaway discovered in 2006 that the sun's "Great Conveyor Belt" had slowed to the lowest rates ever measured. This slowing portends for a very inactive solar cycle in the cycle after the coming cycle.

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