11–20 of 38 posts
And they put them on the web. If you want to see "puzzling" lack of sunspot activity, here it is:
Ho-ly shit, the comments. It's almost like it was linked from Drudge or Fox News.
From the comments: "No mention of the four comets currently in the Solar System. I'm no genius, but don't you think four electromagnetic balls of energy might have an effect on the Sun's magnetic field." (In case anyone here isn't aware, comets are basically big balls of ice, not "electromagnetic balls of energy" ) This comment makes me think that there is remaining ground to be covered in the "online commenting" fie…
* Of course they can pick up a charge from, e.g. collecting solar wind... I'm not an astrophysicist so I can't say how big it would be.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the comments: "No mention of the four comets currently in the Solar System. I'm no genius, but don't you think four electromagnetic balls of energy might have an effect on the Sun's magnetic field." (In case anyone here isn't aware, comets are basically big balls of ice, not "electromagnetic balls of energy" ) This comment makes me think that there is remaining ground to be covered in the "online commenting" fie…
Small correction, but I can't resist: Comets, like most matter, are electronically balanced electromagnetic energy balls, i.e. have no net charge* but plenty of charges. ;) * Of course they can pick up a charge from, e.g. collecting solar wind... I'm not an astrophysicist so I can't say how big it would be.
Since most of our GPS and cellular devices have been developed and deployed during a period of unusually weak solar electromagnetic activity, I've been wondering and worrying about how big of a disaster is waiting to happen when the sun returns to "normal."
Ho-ly shit, the comments. It's almost like it was linked from Drudge or Fox News.
From the comments: "No mention of the four comets currently in the Solar System. I'm no genius, but don't you think four electromagnetic balls of energy might have an effect on the Sun's magnetic field." (In case anyone here isn't aware, comets are basically big balls of ice, not "electromagnetic balls of energy" ) This comment makes me think that there is remaining ground to be covered in the "online commenting" fie…
I was catastrophically wrong. Most people are idiots, and idiots like to travel in packs. Sorry about that.
I visited Mt Wilson on the weekend and took the tour there. One part of the tour took us inside the 150ft solar tower operated by UCLA. I was surprised to see that they recorded sunspot activity by sketching diagrams by hand. And they put them on the web. If you want to see "puzzling" lack of sunspot activity, here it is: http://obs.astro.ucla.edu/cur_drw.html
I'm also puzzled as to why the date is logged as 11 December, since it's the 11th of November.
Ho-ly shit, the comments. It's almost like it was linked from Drudge or Fox News.
The WSJ comment community is a) right wing and b) terminally stupid. I am not trying to suggest that the two are equivalent, but whenever there's a story like this 80% of the comments consist of dismissing global warming as a hoax.
Since most of our GPS and cellular devices have been developed and deployed during a period of unusually weak solar electromagnetic activity, I've been wondering and worrying about how big of a disaster is waiting to happen when the sun returns to "normal."
Even if GPS stopped working, given some time we could work around it. There'd be some issues in the short term, but GPS is used because it is easier than inertial navigation systems, (thankfully) not because it's the only choice.
So much so that it's starting to be relied on in many industries. For example, airplanes are starting to move away from a radar based method of air traffic control to a GPS based system. Every airplane will simply continuously transmit its GPS coordinates as part of its transponder message. From this you can create a highly accurate map of where every plane is, except much more accurate than with radar.
Given the tools we have to detect the sun's 'doings' today are magnanimously more sophisticated than 200 years ago, could it be that 200 years ago several fluctuations were missed because the overall balance still remained throughout the cycles?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
From the comments: "No mention of the four comets currently in the Solar System. I'm no genius, but don't you think four electromagnetic balls of energy might have an effect on the Sun's magnetic field." (In case anyone here isn't aware, comets are basically big balls of ice, not "electromagnetic balls of energy" ) This comment makes me think that there is remaining ground to be covered in the "online commenting" fie…
I used to think newspaper comment systems were going to create more informed citizenry and that everyone would engage in Adult Discussions of Serious Issues. I tirelessly evangelized the gospel of reader participation at every opportunity. I was catastrophically wrong. Most people are idiots, and idiots like to travel in packs. Sorry about that.