Sun - Astronomy, Solar Maximum, Sunspots and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations, Mythology, News -...

8/2/2019 Sun - Astronomy, Solar Maximum, Sunspots and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations, Mythology, News - Crystal Inks

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The Sun

Current Solar Activity - NOAA

The Sun is the closest star to Earth. The Sun is a huge mass of hot, glowing gas. The Sun is a huge mass of hot,glowing gas. The strong gravitational pull of the Sun holds Earth and the other planets in the solar system inorbit. The Sun's light and heat influence all of the objects in the solar system and allow life to exist on Earth.

The Sun is an average star its size, age, and temperature fall in about the middle of the ranges of these propertiesfor all stars. Astronomers believe that the Sun is about 4.6 billion years old and will keep shining for aboutanother 7 billion years. For humans, the Sun is beautiful and useful, but also powerful and dangerous.

As Earth turns, the Sun rises over the eastern horizon in the morning, passes across the sky during the day, andsets in the west in the evening. This movement of the Sun across the sky marks the passage of time during theday. The Sun's movement can produce spectacular sunrises and sunsets under the right atmospheric conditions.

un - Astronomy, Solar Maximum, Sunspots and the Rise and Fa... http://www.crystalinks.com/sun

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At night, reflected sunlight makes the Moon and planets bright in the night sky.

The Sun provides Earth with vast amounts of energy every day. The oceans and seas store this energy and helpkeep the temperature of Earth at a level that allows a wide variety of life to exist. Plants use the Sun's energy tomake food, and plants provide food for other organisms. The Sun's energy also creates wind in Earth'satmosphere. This wind can be harnessed and used to produce power.

While it lights our day and provides energy for life, sunlight can also be harmful to people. Human skin issensitive to ultraviolet light emitted from the Sun. Earth's atmosphere blocks much of the harmful light, butsunlight is still strong enough to burn skin under some conditions. Sunburn is one of the most important riskfactors in the development of skin cancers, which can be fatal. Sunlight is also very harmful to human eyes. Aperson should never look directly at the Sun, even with sunglasses or during an eclipse. The Sun influences Earthwith more than just light. Particles flowing from the Sun can disrupt Earth's magnetic field, and these disruptionscan interfere with electronic communications.

Sun Wikipedia

Sun Cycles

The solar cycle, or the solar magnetic activity cycle, is a periodic change in the amount of irradiation from theSun that is experienced on Earth. It has a period of about 11 years, and is one component of solar variation, theother being aperiodic fluctuations. Solar variation causes changes in space weather and to some degree weatherand climate on Earth. The cycle is observed by counting the frequency and placement of sunspots visible on theSun. Powered by a hydromagnetic dynamo process, driven by the inductive action of internal solar flows, the

solar cycle:

Solar maximum or solar max is the period of greatest solar activity in the solar cycle of the sun. During solarmaxima, large numbers of sunspots appear. A solar maximum is the period when the sun's magnetic field linesare the most distorted due to the magnetic field on the solar equator rotating at a slightly faster pace than at thesolar poles. The solar cycle takes an average of about 11 years to go from one solar maximum to the next, withan observed variation in duration of 9 to 14 years for any given solar cycle.


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The last solar maximum was in 2000. The next solar maximum is currently predicted to occur in February 2013and to be one of the weakest cycles since 1928. The unreliability of solar maxima predictions is demonstrated inthat NASA had previously predicted the solar maximum for 2010/2011 and possibly to occur as late as 2012.Previously, on March 10, 2006, NASA researchers had announced that the next solar maximum would be thestrongest since the historic maximum in 1859 in which the northern lights could be seen as far south as Rome,approximately 42 north of the equator, by 2011, this appeared to be incorrect. In fact, the solar maximum willbe a fairly weak one.

2012

In modern times, the largest solar flare measured with instruments occurred on November 4, 2003. This eventsaturated the GOES detectors, and because of this its classification is only approximate. Initially, extrapolatingthe GOES curve, it was pegged at X28. Later analysis of the ionospheric effects suggested increasing this

estimate to X45. This event produced the first clear evidence of a new spectral component above 100 GHz.Other large solar flares also occurred on April 2, 2001 (X20), October 28, 2003 (X17.2 & X10), September 7,2005 (X17), February 17, 2011 (X2), August 9, 2011 (X6.9), and March 6, 2012 (X5.4).

Solar Flares - March 7-10, 2012


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Radio Bursts Spaceweather.com - March 11, 2012

The roaring sounds heard are caused by shock waves plowingthrough the sun's atmosphere in the aftermath of the explosion.

Identifying the Beginnings and Ends of Solar Cycles Live Science - January 6, 2012

A limited number of instruments can tell us about our planet's star: Our knowledge of solar cycles comes fromEarth-based satellites and telescopes and theoretical models of solar phenomena based on the laws of physics.One region of the sun is benefitting from such a combination of observational and theoretical techniques: Thesolar convection zone, where sunspots are born. They are then expressed at the solar surface throughout solarcycles. The convection zone occupies the outer 30 percent of the solar interior, and the activity andcharacteristics of its various sunspots help scientists identify the beginnings and ends of solar cycles, as well asgain insights into the solar 'dynamo' - the physical process that generates the sun's magnetic field.

2011


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Solar Flare Sparks Biggest Eruption Ever Seen on SunNational Geographic - June 8, 2011

A solar blast that NASA classified as an M-2 explosion erupted from the sun in an impressive display capturedby the space agency's cameras. In the amazing blast, a large cloud of charged magnetic particles mushroomed upout of the sun and fell back down, appearing to cover almost half of the solar surface. What shocked scientistswas the unusual amount of material that lofted up, expanded, and fell back down over roughly half the surfacearea of the sun. The event's simultaneous launch of particles into space is called a coronal mass ejection (CME)."This totally caught us by surprise. There wasn't much going on with this spot, but as it came from behind thesun, all of the sudden there was a flare and huge ejection of particles," said astrophysicist Phillip Chamberlin ofNASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), one of several spacecraft that recorded the event. "We've neverseen a CME this enormous."


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cycle 6, which ended in the year 1823 - but you never know as the sun will surprise us.

The Carrington Event

The Carrington Event of September 1859 occurred during a solar minimum cycle and was the most powerfulsolar storm in recorded history. The largest flare, observed by Richard Carrington, became known as theCarrington Super Flare. Just before dawn the next day, skies all over planet Earth erupted in red, green, andpurple auroras so brilliant that newspapers could be read as easily as in daylight. Stunning auroras pulsated evenat near tropical latitudes over Cuba, the Bahamas, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Hawaii. Spark discharges shockedtelegraph operators and set the telegraph paper on fire. The solar flare was so unusual, researchers still aren't surehow to categorize it.

As 2011 unfolds, the sun is once again on the eve of a solar minimum cycle - at least that's what forecasters aresaying. Don't bet on it. A similar storm today might knock us for a loop affecting power grids, GPS, and satellitecommunications and anything vulnerable to solar storms. CMEs affect planetary magnetics, sparkinggeomagnetic storms shifting ocean and jet stream currents in the Pacific Ring of Fire, creating unusual andextreme global weather patterns, creating unstoppable Earth changes, and affecting the behavior patterns of all

sentient life forms.The Carrington Event of 1859 reminds us that strong solar storms


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can occur even when the underlying cycle is nominally weak.


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Sunspots and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations Maurice Cottrell

There appears to be a correlation between the rise and fall of civilizations with the rise and fall of radiation fromthe sun. The graph shows a long-term envelope of sunspot activity derived from the center graph of Carbon 14.More carbon 14 is absorbed in the growth rings of tress during the sunspot minima. Sunspot minima alsocorrelates with mini-ice ages and a winter severity index based on a mean for Paris and London - for the periodshown. The Maya disappeared during a sunspot minimum.


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Solar Flares - Coronal Mass Ejections

Ongoing coronal mass ejections (CMEs) reach Earth effecting planetary magnetics, sparking geomagneticstorms, shifting ocean and jet stream currents in the Pacific Ring of Fire, creating unusual and extreme globalweather patterns, creating unstoppable Earth changes, and affecting the behavior patterns of all sentient lifeforms.

Sun Cycles - Solar Max - Sun Cycle 24 - Sunspots and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations

Flux Transfer Event

A flux transfer event (FTE) occurs when a magnetic portal opens in the Earth's magnetosphere through whichhigh-energy particles flow from the Sun. This connection, while previously thought to be permanent, has beenfound to be brief and very dynamic. The European Space Agency's four Cluster spacecraft and NASA's fiveTHEMIS probes have flown through and surrounded these FTEs, measuring their dimensions and identifying theparticles that are transferred between the magnetic fields.

Earth's magnetosphere and the Sun's magnetic field are constantly pressed against one another on the dayside ofEarth. Approximately every eight minutes, these fields briefly merge, forming a temporary "portal" between theEarth and the Sun through which high-energy particles such as solar wind can flow. The portal takes the shape of


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a magnetic cylinder about the width of Earth. Current observations place the portal at up to 4 times the size ofthe earth.

Since Cluster and THEMIS have directly sampled FTEs, scientists can simulate FTEs on computers to predicthow they might behave. Jimmy Raeder of the University of New Hampshire told his colleagues simulationsshow that the cylindrical portals tend to form above Earth's equator and then roll over Earth's winter pole. InDecember, FTEs roll over the north pole; in July they roll over the south pole.

Magnetic fields similar to Earth's are common throughout known space and many undergo similar flux transferevents. During its second flyby of the planet on October 6, 2008, the NASA probe MESSENGER discoveredthat Mercurys magnetic field shows a magnetic reconnection rate ten times higher than Earth's. Mercury'sproximity to the sun only accounts for about a third of the reconnection rate observed by MESSENGER and thecause of this discrepancy is not currently known.

Strange Portal Connects Earth to Sun Space.com - November 3, 2008

Like giant, cosmic chutes between the Earth and sun, magnetic portals open up every eight minutes or soto connect our planet with its host star. Once the portals open, loads of high-energy particles can travel the93 million miles (150 million km) through the conduit during its brief opening, space scientists say. Calleda flux transfer event, such cosmic connections not only exist but are possibly twice as common as anyoneever imagined.

Analemma


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In astronomy, an analemma (from Greek "pedestal of a sundial") is a curve representing the angular offset of acelestial body (usually the Sun) from its mean position on the celestial sphere as viewed from another celestialbody relative to the viewing body's celestial equator. The term is commonly applied nowadays to the figuretraced in the sky when the position of the Sun is plotted at the same time each day over a calendar year from aparticular location on Earth.

Knowing that Earth's average solar day is almost exactly 24 hours,[clarification needed] an analemma can be

traced by plotting the position of the Sun as viewed from a fixed position on Earth at the same time every day foran entire year. The resulting curve resembles a figure of eight, but on other solar system bodies it may be verydifferent because of the interplay between the tilt of each body's axis and the elliptical shape of its orbit.


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Analemma Over the Porch of MaidensNASA - December 21, 2008

The Sun in Mythology


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Creation is often linked to a combination of the Sun (Male) and Moon (Goddess) - representing duality inphysical reality.

A solar deity - sun god or goddess - represents the sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power andstrength. Solar deities and sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms.Hence, many beliefs have formed around this worship, such as the "missing sun" found in many cultures.

In different religions solar supreme deities carry different names and are associated with different aspects of thecultural universe of the society, but for the most part its raw image remains identical.

The Neolithic concept of a solar barge, the sun as traversing the sky in a boat, is found in the later myths ofancient Egypt, with Ra and Horus. Earlier Egyptian myths imply that the sun is within the lioness, Sekhmet, atnight and can be seen reflected in her eyes or that it is within the cow, Hathor during the night, being reborn eachmorning as her son (bull). Proto-Indo-European religion has a solar chariot, the sun as traversing the sky in achariot.

During the Roman Empire, a festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun (or Dies Natalis Solis Invicti) wascelebrated on the winter solstice - the "rebirth" of the sun. In Germanic mythology this is Sol, in Vedic Surya,and in Greek Helios (occasionally referred to as Titan) and (sometimes) as Apollo. Mesopotamian Shamashplays an important role during the Bronze Age, and "my Sun" is eventually used as an address to royalty.Similarly, South American cultures have emphatic Sun worship, see Inti. See also Sol Invictus. Svarog is theSlavic god sun and spirit of fire.

During the later periods of Roman history, sun worship gained in importance and ultimately led to what has beencalled a solar monotheism. Nearly all the gods of the period were possessed of solar qualities. The feast of SolInvictus (Unconquered Sun) on December 25 was celebrated with great joy, and eventually this date was takenover by the Christians as Christmas, the celebrated birthday of Christ.

Sun Gods Wikipedia


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On Feb. 6th, NASA's twin STEREO probes moved into position on opposite sides of the sun, and they are nowbeaming back uninterrupted images of the entire star -- front and back. "For the first time ever, we can watchsolar activity in its full 3-dimensional glory," says Angelos Vourlidas, a member of the STEREO science team atthe Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC.

New images show cloud exploding from Sun ripples like clouds on Earth PhysOrg - February 4, 2011

Physicists, led by a researcher at the University of Warwick, studying new images of clouds of materialexploding from the Sun have spotted instabilities forming in that exploding cloud that are similar to those seen inclouds in Earths atmosphere.

Hole in the Sun NASA - August 28, 2010


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This ominous, dark shape sprawling across the face of the Sun is a coronal hole -- a low density regionextending above the surface where the solar magnetic field opens freely into interplanetary space. Studiedextensively from space since the 1960s in ultraviolet and x-ray light, coronal holes are known to be the source ofthe high-speed solar wind, atoms and electrons which flow outward along the open magnetic field lines. Duringperiods of low activity, coronal holes typically cover regions just above the Sun's poles. But this extensivecoronal hole dominated the Sun's northern hemisphere earlier this week, captured here in extreme ultravioletlight by cameras onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The solar wind streaming from this coronal holetriggered auroral displays on planet Earth.

The strange case of solar flares and radioactive elements PhysOrg - August 24, 2010The radioactive decay of some elements sitting quietly in laboratories on Earth seemed to be influenced byactivities inside the sun, 93 million miles away.

Oldest Material in Solar System Found National Geographic - August 23, 2010Discovery suggests exploding star kick-started our sun. Pea-size minerals inside a meteorite are the oldestknown material in the solar system, a new study says. At 4,568.2 million years old, the minerals push back thebirth of the solar system by as much as two million years - and suggests that an exploding star injected keymaterials into our system as it was being born, researchers say.

Music of the sun recorded by scientists Telegraph.co.uk - June 21, 2010

The sun has been the inspiration for hundreds of songs, but now scientists have discovered that the star at thecentre of our solar system produces its own music. Astronomers at the University of Sheffield have managed torecord for the first time the eerie musical harmonies produced by the magnetic field in the outer atmosphere ofthe sun. They found that huge magnetic loops that have been observed coiling away from the outer layer of thesun's atmosphere, known as coronal loops, vibrate like strings on a musical instrument.


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New Space Telescope Delivers First Mind-Blowing Video of the Sun Wired - April 21, 2010

Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory returns first images BBC - April 22, 2010

NASA Solar Observatory's First Shots - Sun Gets in the Loop National Geographic - April 22, 2010A huge loop of material shooting up from the sun's surface in March was one of the first events witnessed byNASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Known as a prominence eruption, the loop was born from a relativelycold cloud of plasma, or charged gas, tenuously tethered to the sun's surface by magnetic forces. Such clouds canerupt dramatically when they break free of the sun's unstable hold.

Eclipses Yield First Images of Elusive Iron Line in Solar Corona PhysOrg - January 4, 2010

Close-Up Photos of Dying Star Show Our Sun's Fate Science Daily - December 17, 2009


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About 550 light-years from Earth, a star like our Sun is writhing in its death throes. Chi Cygni has swollen insize to become a red giant star so large that it would swallow every planet out to Mars in our solar system.Moreover, it has begun to pulse dramatically in and out, beating like a giant heart. New close-up photos of the

surface of this distant star show its throbbing motions in unprecedented detail. As a sunlike star ages, it begins torun out of hydrogen fuel at its core. Like a car running out of gas, its "engine" begins to splutter. On Chi Cygni,we see those splutterings as a brightening and dimming, caused by the star's contraction and expansion. Stars atthis life stage are known as Mira variables after the first such example, Mira "the Wonderful," discovered byDavid Fabricius in 1596. As it pulses, the star is puffing off its outer layers, which in a few hundred thousandyears will create a beautifully gleaming planetary nebula.

Japans space agency is planning to construct a solar power station in space and use it to beam energy down toEarth using lasers Telegraph.co.uk - November 11, 2009

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) hopes that the ambitious plans will help ease the countrysenergy problems as well as providing a solution for global warming. A select group of companies andresearchers have been given the task of designing and building the Space Solar Power System (SSPS). The planis to create a miles-wide array of photovoltaic panels, like the solar panels used on Earth, and place it in ageostationary orbit. Solar rays are at least five times as powerful in space as they are at ground level, allowingthe huge panels to gather vast quantities of energy. A report by researchers at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said:


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"Since solar power is a clean and inexhaustible energy source, we believe that this system will be able to helpsolve the problems of energy shortage and global warming.

Solar Cycle Driven by More than Sunspots PhysOrg - September 17, 2009When the solar cycle was at a minimum level in 1996, the Sun sprayed Earth with relatively few, weakhigh-speed streams containing turbulent magnetic fields. In contrast, the Sun bombarded Earth with stronger and

longer-lasting streams last year even though the solar cycle was again at a minimum level. The streams affectedEarth's outer radiation belt, posing a threat to earth-orbiting satellites, and triggered space weather disturbances,lighting up auroras in the sky at higher latitudes.

Sunspots Revealed In Striking Detail By Supercomputers Science Daily - June 22, 2009

In a breakthrough that will help scientists unlock mysteries of the Sun and its impacts on Earth, an internationalteam of scientists led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has created the first-evercomprehensive computer model of sunspots. The resulting visuals capture both scientific detail and remarkablebeauty.

Cartwheel Coronal Mass Ejection NASA - May 27, 2008

Visions of Sun's great 'belches' BBC - April 15, 2008Here's a strange scenario: You move farther away from a fire, getting cooler and cooler, until suddenly you are

burning up. That's essentially what happens in the sun: Its outer layer, the corona, is inexplicably hot. A newstudy may complicate things further by poking holes in a leading theory that aims to account for the puzzlingphenomenon.

New Kink in Sun's Strange Corona Space.com - March 24, 2008Here's a strange scenario: You move farther away from a fire, getting cooler and cooler, until suddenly you areburning up. That's essentially what happens in the sun: Its outer layer, the corona, is inexplicably hot. A new


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study may complicate things further by poking holes in a leading theory that aims to account for the puzzlingphenomenon.

Sun's Magnetic Secret Revealed Space.com - January 22, 2008Powerful magnetic waves have been confirmed for the first time as major players in the process that makes thesun's atmosphere strangely hundreds of times hotter than its already superhot surface. The magnetic waves -

called Alfven waves - can carry enough energy from the sun's active surface to heat its atmosphere, or corona.The surface and corona are chock full of these things, and they're very energetic.

Mysterious Solar Ripples Detected For The First Time Space.com - December 30, 2007

Mysterious waves that help transport the sun's energy out into space have been detected by scientists for the firsttime. Researchers hope their discovery of the energetic ripples, known as Alfvan waves, will shed light on othersolar phenomena such as the sun's magnetic fields and its super-hot corona, or outermost atmosphere. A newvideo shows the ripples in action.

Scientists Confirm Long-held Theory About Source Of Sunshine Science Daily - August 21, 2007A monumental experiment buried deep beneath the mountains of Italy has provided Princeton physicists with a

clearer understanding of the sun's heart -- and of a mysterious class of subatomic particles born there. In stars thesize of the sun, most solar energy is produced by a complex chain of nuclear reactions that converts hydrogeninto helium. Beginning with protons from hydrogen's nucleus, the chain takes one of several routes that all endwith the creation of a helium nucleus and the production of sunlight. Steps along two of these routes require thepresence of the element beryllium, and physicists have theorized that these steps are responsible for creatingabout 10 percent of the sun's neutrinos. But technological limitations had made the theory difficult to test untilnow.

Global warming and cooling linked to the sunspot cycle New Scientist - August 14, 2007ide heating and cooling of the atmosphere during the 11-year sunspot cycle has been measured for the first time.Climate-change sceptics may seize on the findings as evidence that the sun's variability can explain globalwarming - but mathematician Ka-Kit Tung says quite the contrary is true. The 11-year cycle is the shortest of anumber of known oscillations in the solar radiation reaching the Earth. Tung says the sun is currently at a lowpoint in the 11-year cycle. Unless other influences like volcanic eruptions or El Ninos intervene, we can expectstrong warming of the atmosphere in the next five years, as an upturn in the cycle reinforces human-generatedwarming.

Solar Tornadoes Thunderbolts - June 15, 2007


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Sunspots are strange blemishes on the face of the Sun that offer some of the strongest evidence against the Sunbeing powered internally. They are conventionally described as being a result of strong magnetic fields pinchingoff the convection of heat from inside the Sun before it can reach the surface. The electric star interpretation isthat sunspots are breaks in the hot surface of the sun, through which we can get a glimpse of the underlyinglayers. To satisfy the standard theory, these deeper layers of the Sun should be hotter to drive the so-calledvigorous convection. But they aren't. The dark center of the sunspot, or umbra, is 20% cooler than the rest of thesurface of the Sun. The outer shadow of the sunspot, or penumbra, and the structure and behavior of thefilaments that form the penumbra are also too complex to be explained by standard stellar theory.

Sun's "Ring of Fire" Stoked by Sound Waves National Geographic - May 31, 2007It has been a burning mystery for decades: Why is a thin, irregular region of the sun's atmosphere known as thechromosphere much hotter than the star's visible surface? The answer, scientists recently proposed, could bestellar sound. Magnetic fields send sound waves from the sun's interior shooting upward, creating fountains ofhot gas that shape and power the chromosphere.

Harnessing the Power of the Sun SETI - April 20, 2007Science, even by reputable practitioners, proceeds in fits, starts, and frequent excursions down blind alleys. Asexample, in 1877 astronomers on both sides of the Atlantic observed things about Mars that had the potential formaking SETI a done deal, a fait accompli.

A Massive Explosion on the Sun (Cool movie) NASA - April 24, 2007

First 3-D Images of Sun Unveiled National Geographic - April 24, 2007


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The Sun in Three Dimensions NASA - April 24, 2007

New Phenomena on the Sun + Video NASA - March 22, 2007

A magnetic vortex almost as big as Earth

Telescope imaged million-degree gas spiraling up from sunspots MSNBC - March 21, 2007


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Like cosmic rubber bands, twisted magnetic structures along the suns surface can release massive amounts of

energy when relaxed. The discharge could be the hidden source that heats up the atmosphere of the sun. Whilethe suns surface is a steamy 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,538 degrees Celsius), gas floating above in theso-called corona soars to more than 100 times hotter. Astronomers have long puzzled over the source of thecoronas heat.

Sunspot 930 announced itself on Dec. 5th with one of the strongest flares in years--an X9, followed by an X6 onDec. 6th, an X3 on Dec. 13th and an X1 on Dec. 14th. - Space Weather.com

A Large Tsunami Shock Wave on the Sun (Animation) NASA - December 13, 2006

Sunspot Penumbra Shock Astrophysicists Thunderbolts - April 18, 2006


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Textbook theory of sunspot activity faces new difficulties posed by the magnetically confined structures of thepenumbra. The old idea that the penumbra filaments are convection currents must now give way to new evidencethat electric currents dominate these solar structures.

Solar Minimum has Arrived NASA - March 6, 2006

Sun's Changes to Blame for Part of Global Warming Live Science - October 1, 2005Increased output from the Sun might be to blame for 10 to 30 percent of global warming that has been measuredin the past 20 years, according to a new report. Increased emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trappinggases still play a role, the scientists say.

NASA's Chandra Neon Discovery Solves Solar Paradox Science Daily - July 29, 2005

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory survey of nearby sun-like stars suggests there is nearly three times moreneon in the sun and local universe than previously believed. If true, this would solve a critical problem withunderstanding how the sun works.


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Deep Roots Of Solar Wind Help Predict Space Weather Across Solar System Science Daily - May 25, 2005

A layer deep in the solar atmosphere can be used to estimate the speed of the solar wind, a stream of electrifiedgas that constantly blows from the Sun. Estimating the speed of the solar wind will improve space weatherforecasts, enhancing our ability to protect communications, navigation, and other satellites from the effects ofsolar storms. We will also be able to warn human explorers on their way to the planets of the severity of thosestorms.

Solar Outbursts Protected Early Earth Scientific American May 11, 2005

The early sun produced powerful x-ray emissions that may have helped to ensure the survival of our planet,

scientists say. Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory suggest that violent x-ray flares, which reachedtemperatures of 100 million kelvins, may have rocked the surrounding disk from which planets formed andprevented Earth from rapidly spiraling into the sun and being destroyed.

Heavenly signs that scared Roman rulers help astronomers study the Sun Astronomy Magazine - May 13, 2005In 200 B.C., authorities of the Roman Republic recorded such events with the enthusiasm of a modern tabloid.While these omens cataloged by ancient historians won't tell us much about heaven's wrath, astronomers say


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they form an indirect record of what the Sun was doing 2,000 years ago. The work of Roman historian TitusLivius (Livy, in English), who lived from 59 B.C. A.D. 17, formed the basis of both studies. Livy's Ab UrbeCondita, written in the time of the first emperors, chronicles Rome's history with the help of written recordsdating back hundreds of years. Many times, he reports how Romans interpreted natural events as warnings thatsomething was amiss in the relationship between the state and its gods.

Solar Flares and Astronauts NASA - January 27, 2005

On January 20th, 2005, a giant sunspot named "NOAA 720" exploded. The blast sparked an X-class solar flare,the most powerful kind, and hurled a billion-ton cloud of electrified gas (a "coronal mass ejection") into space.Solar protons accelerated to nearly light speed by the explosion reached the Earth-Moon system minutes afterthe flare the beginning of a days-long "proton storm."

The Sun Is More Active Now Than Over The Last 8000 Years Science Daily - November 1, 2004

The activity of the Sun over the last 11,400 years, i.e., back to the end of the last ice age on Earth, has now forthe first time been reconstructed quantitatively by an international group of researchers led by Sami K. Solankifrom the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany). The scientists haveanalyzed the radioactive isotopes in trees that lived thousands of years ago. As the scientists from Germany,Finland, and Switzerland report in the current issue of the science journal "Nature" from October 28, one needsto go back over 8,000 years in order to find a time when the Sun was, on average, as active as in the last 60years. Based on a statistical study of earlier periods of increased solar activity, the researchers predict that the


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current level of high solar activity will probably continue only for a few more decades.

How Strongly Does The Sun Influence The Global Climate? Science Daily - August 2004Since the middle of the last century, the Sun is in a phase of unusually high activity, as indicated by frequentoccurrences of sunspots, gas eruptions, and radiation storms. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for SolarSystem Research (MPS) in Katlenburg-Lindau (Germany) and at the University of Oulu (Finland) have come to

this conclusion after they have succeeded in reconstructing the solar activity based on the sunspot frequencysince 850 AD. To this end, they have combined historical sunspot records with measurements of the frequencyof radioactive isotopes in ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic. As the scientists have reported in therenowned scientific journal, Physical Review Letters, since 1940 the mean sunspot number is higher than it hasever been in the last thousand years and two and a half times higher than the long term average. The temporalvariation in the solar activity displays a similarity to that of the mean temperature of the Earth.

Sunspots reaching 1,000-year high BBC - July 2004A new analysis shows that the Sun is more active now than it has been at anytime in the previous 1,000 years.Scientists based at the Institute for Astronomy in Zurich used ice cores from Greenland to construct a picture ofour star's activity in the past. They say that over the last century the number of sunspots rose at the same time

that the Earth's climate became steadily warmer. The warming is being amplified by gases from fossil fuelburning, they argue. Sunspots have been monitored on the Sun since 1610, shortly after the invention of thetelescope. They provide the longest-running direct measurement of our star's activity. The variation in sunspotnumbers has revealed the Sun's 11-year cycle of activity as well as other, longer-term changes. In particular, ithas been noted that between about 1645 and 1715, few sunspots were seen on the Sun's surface. This period iscalled the Maunder Minimum after the English astronomer who studied it.

A Green Flash from the Sun NASA - March 21, 2004

Many think it is just a myth. Others think it is true but its cause isn't known. Adventurers pride themselves on


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having seen it. It's a green flash from the Sun. The truth is the green flash does exist and its cause is wellunderstood. Just as the setting Sun disappears completely from view, a last glimmer appears startlingly green.The effect is typically visible only from locations with a low, distant horizon, and lasts just a few seconds. Agreen flash is also visible for a rising Sun, but takes better timing to spot. A dramatic green flash was caught inthe above photograph in 1992 from Finland. The Sun itself does not turn partly green, the effect is caused bylayers of the Earth's atmosphere acting like a prism.

Sun 'sheds its skin like a snake' BBC - November 24, 2003

Astronomers have discovered a key fact required to understand the Sun's 11-year cycle of activity. Sunspots andflares on the Sun's surface follow the cycle, but expelled gas clouds do not. It seems that these ejections trail thesunspot peak - they peaked in 2002, two years after sunspots. The expelled gas takes away the Sun's oldmagnetic skin allowing a new one to emerge to start a new cycle.

Huge rock-ice body circles Sun BBC - November 17, 2003

Astronomers have found a large object orbiting the Sun near Neptune's orbit. It was discovered on Friday by anautomated sky survey project designed to search for threatening asteroids that may be on an Earth impact course.The object is about 570 km across, making it one of the largest bodies of its kind found in modern times. Thenew body, made of rock and ice, is designated 2003 VS2. Re-examining past records, astronomers have found itin images taken as far back as 1998.


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Solar flare 'reproduced' in lab BBC - November 11, 2003

Scientists have simulated a solar flare in the lab, recreating the super-heated cloud of electrically-charged gasseen on the Sun known as a plasma. It was part of an initiative to develop fusion power - the nuclear energy thatkeeps the Sun shining. The plasma in the lab behaved like a miniature version of a solar flare. Scientists hopethey can create a flare at low energies in the lab, to enable them to study the explosive events that take place on

the Sun's surface.

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