Science report from Yahoo Science
The sun is losing its
spots — and here’s why that’s a
bad thing for all of us
Ashley Rey / June 29, 2016 3:54 pm
The
sun is losing its spots, and it’s certainly something that we shouldn’t take
lightly. According to news.com.au, our fireball has gone
blank for the second time this month, leading Meteorologist Paul Dorian to
believe that the next solar minimum is approaching and there
will be an increasing number of spotless days over the next few years. This
matters because the amount of sun spots reportedly affects our climate.
So,
let’s start with solar minimum. What is it exactly? Well, NASA explains it to be when the sun’s natural solar
cycle shows the lowest amount of sunspots. You see, when at its best, the sun’s
surface is covered invisible dark blemishes, or sunspots. The sun goes through a natural
solar cycle approximately every 11 years, and each cycle is marked by the
increase and decrease of sunspots –
with the highest number of sunspots in any given solar cycle being
the “solar maximum” and the lowest number being “solar minimum.”
The sun at its best.
“During
Solar Max, huge sunspots and intense solar flares are a daily occurrence. Auroras appear in Florida
And, the sun at its
worst.
NASA goes on to explain that “during solar minimum, the
opposite occurs. Solar flares are almost non-existent while whole weeks go by
without a single, tiny sunspot to break the monotony of the blank sun. This is
what we are experiencing now.”
So… why we should care? Well, Dorian breaks down all of the sun-related deets to us in
his report, published just a few days ago. “The blankness will
stretch for just a few days at a time, then it’ll continue for weeks at a time,
and finally it should last for months at a time when the sunspot cycle reaches
its nadir,” says Dorian, leading a lot of us to believe that the next mini ice age is on its way.
Coltons Point Times version of next Ice Age.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment