Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:33 pm by globalturbo
NASA warns ‘something unexpected is happening to the Sun’
Posted on March 9, 2013 by END TIME HEADLINES
Signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars: ‘Something
unexpected’ is happening on the Sun, Nasa has warned. This year was
supposed to be the year of ‘solar maximum,’ the peak of the 11-year
sunspot cycle. But as this image reveals, solar activity is relatively
low. ’Sunspot numbers are well below their values from 2011, and strong
solar flares have been infrequent,’ the space agency says. The image
above shows the Earth-facing surface of the Sun on February 28, 2013, as
observed by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on NASA’s Solar
Dynamics Observatory. It observed just a few small sunspots on an
otherwise clean face, which is usually riddled with many spots during
peak solar activity. Experts have been baffled by the apparent lack of
activity – with many wondering if NASA simply got it
wrong. However, Solar physicist Dean Pesnell of NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center believes he has a different explanation. ’This is solar
maximum,’ he says. ’But it looks different from what we expected
because it is double-peaked.’ ’The last two solar maxima, around 1989
and 2001, had not one but two peaks.’ Solar activity went up, dipped,
then rose again, performing a mini-cycle that lasted about two years, he
said. The same thing could be happening now, as sunspot counts jumped
in 2011 and dipped in 2012, he believes. Pesnell expects them to rebound
in 2013: ‘I am comfortable in saying that another peak will happen in
2013 and possibly last into 2014.’ He spotted a similarity between Solar
Cycle 24 and Solar Cycle 14, which had a double-peak during the first
decade of the 20th century. If the two cycles are twins, ‘it would mean
one peak in late 2013 and another in 2015′ MailOnline
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWErXyicLWE
Thanks to: http://endtimeheadlines.wordpress.com
Posted on March 9, 2013 by END TIME HEADLINES
Signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars: ‘Somethingunexpected’ is happening on the Sun, Nasa has warned. This year was
supposed to be the year of ‘solar maximum,’ the peak of the 11-year
sunspot cycle. But as this image reveals, solar activity is relatively
low. ’Sunspot numbers are well below their values from 2011, and strong
solar flares have been infrequent,’ the space agency says. The image
above shows the Earth-facing surface of the Sun on February 28, 2013, as
observed by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on NASA’s Solar
Dynamics Observatory. It observed just a few small sunspots on an
otherwise clean face, which is usually riddled with many spots during
peak solar activity. Experts have been baffled by the apparent lack of
activity – with many wondering if NASA simply got it
wrong. However, Solar physicist Dean Pesnell of NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center believes he has a different explanation. ’This is solar
maximum,’ he says. ’But it looks different from what we expected
because it is double-peaked.’ ’The last two solar maxima, around 1989
and 2001, had not one but two peaks.’ Solar activity went up, dipped,
then rose again, performing a mini-cycle that lasted about two years, he
said. The same thing could be happening now, as sunspot counts jumped
in 2011 and dipped in 2012, he believes. Pesnell expects them to rebound
in 2013: ‘I am comfortable in saying that another peak will happen in
2013 and possibly last into 2014.’ He spotted a similarity between Solar
Cycle 24 and Solar Cycle 14, which had a double-peak during the first
decade of the 20th century. If the two cycles are twins, ‘it would mean
one peak in late 2013 and another in 2015′ MailOnline
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWErXyicLWE
Thanks to: http://endtimeheadlines.wordpress.com
