Zelaron Gaming Forum  
Stats Arcade Portal Forum FAQ Community Calendar Today's Posts Search
Go Back   Zelaron Gaming Forum > The Zelaron Nexus > Science and Art > Science and Technology News

 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes

 
Mystery Of The Missing Sunspots Solved?
Reply
Posted 2009-06-21, 06:19 AM

A helioseismic map of the solar interior.
(Credit: Image courtesy of National Solar Observatory)


ScienceDaily (June 19, 2009) — The sun is in the pits of a century-class solar minimum, and sunspots have been puzzlingly scarce for more than two years. Now, for the first time, solar physicists might understand why.

At an American Astronomical Society press conference in Boulder, Colorado, researchers announced that a jet stream deep inside the sun is migrating slower than usual through the star's interior, giving rise to the current lack of sunspots.
Rachel Howe and Frank Hill of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Tucson, Arizona, used a technique called helioseismology to detect and track the jet stream down to depths of 7,000 km below the surface of the sun. The sun generates new jet streams near its poles every 11 years, they explained. The streams migrate slowly from the poles to the equator and when a jet stream reaches the critical latitude of 22 degrees, new-cycle sunspots begin to appear.
Howe and Hill found that the stream associated with the next solar cycle has moved sluggishly, taking three years to cover a 10 degree range in latitude compared to only two years for the previous solar cycle.
The jet stream is now, finally, reaching the critical latitude, heralding a return of solar activity in the months and years ahead.
"It is exciting to see", says Hill, "that just as this sluggish stream reaches the usual active latitude of 22 degrees, a year late, we finally begin to see new groups of sunspots emerging."
The current solar minimum has been so long and deep, it prompted some scientists to speculate that the sun might enter a long period with no sunspot activity at all, akin to the Maunder Minimum of the 17th century. This new result dispells those concerns. The sun's internal magnetic dynamo is still operating, and the sunspot cycle is not "broken."
Because it flows beneath the surface of the sun, the jet stream is not directly visible. Hill and Howe tracked its hidden motions via helioseismology. Shifting masses inside the sun send pressure waves rippling through the stellar interior. So-called "p modes" (p for pressure) bounce around the interior and cause the sun to ring like an enormous bell. By studying the vibrations of the sun's surface, it is possible to figure out what is happening inside. Similar techniques are used by geologists to map the interior of our planet.
In this case, researchers combined data from GONG and SOHO. GONG, short for "Global Oscillation Network Group," is an NSO-led network of telescopes that measures solar vibrations from various locations around Earth. SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, makes similar measurements from space.
"This is an important discovery," says Dean Pesnell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "It shows how flows inside the sun are tied to the creation of sunspots and how jet streams can affect the timing of the solar cycle."
There is, however, much more to learn.
"We still don't understand exactly how jet streams trigger sunspot production," says Pesnell. "Nor do we fully understand how the jet streams themselves are generated."
To solve these mysteries, and others, NASA plans to launch the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) later this year. SDO is equipped with sophisticated helioseismology sensors that will allow it to probe the solar interior better than ever before.
"The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on SDO will improve our understanding of these jet streams and other internal flows by providing full disk images at ever-increasing depths in the sun," says Pesnell.
Continued tracking and study of solar jet streams could help researchers do something unprecedented--accurately predict the unfolding of future solar cycles.

-----------------------------------------
What does this mean? Well maybe 2012 really is the end. When a giant solar flare destroys life on earth...
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
Sum Yung Guy seldom sees opportunities until they cease to beSum Yung Guy seldom sees opportunities until they cease to beSum Yung Guy seldom sees opportunities until they cease to beSum Yung Guy seldom sees opportunities until they cease to be
 
 
Sum Yung Guy
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-06-21, 09:13 AM in reply to Sum Yung Guy's post "Mystery Of The Missing Sunspots Solved?"
Sum Yung Guy said: [Goto]

-----------------------------------------
What does this mean? Well maybe 2012 really is the end. When a giant solar flare destroys life on earth...


Boom.
Skurai
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
Skurai has an imagination enthroned in its own recess, incomprehensible as from darknessSkurai has an imagination enthroned in its own recess, incomprehensible as from darknessSkurai has an imagination enthroned in its own recess, incomprehensible as from darkness
 
 
Skurai
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-07-09, 12:20 AM in reply to Skurai's post starting "http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa299..."
They're back.... look out Earth!

http://www.space.com/scienceastronom...-activity.html
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
Sum Yung Guy seldom sees opportunities until they cease to beSum Yung Guy seldom sees opportunities until they cease to beSum Yung Guy seldom sees opportunities until they cease to beSum Yung Guy seldom sees opportunities until they cease to be
 
 
Sum Yung Guy
 



 
Reply
Posted 2009-07-13, 11:20 AM in reply to Sum Yung Guy's post starting "They're back.... look out Earth! ..."
It's like the Knowing!!!

Quick, grab some bunnies! It means you're the chosen!!!
Old
Profile PM WWW Search
Wed-G is an uncelestial body of massWed-G is an uncelestial body of massWed-G is an uncelestial body of mass
 
 
Wed-G
 
 

Bookmarks

« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

Posting Rules [Forum Rules]
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Missing Link Found? D3V Opinion and Debate 2 2009-05-22 07:03 AM
Missing College gruesomeBODY Life Discussion 2 2009-01-21 06:39 AM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 10:55 PM.
'Synthesis 2' vBulletin 3.x styles and 'x79' derivative
by WetWired the Unbound and Chruser
Copyright ©2002-2008 zelaron.com
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
This site is best seen with your eyes open.