March 23, 2022,
Astronomy/Space
Astronomers identified a nearby star whose sunspot cycles appear to have stopped. Studying this star might help explain the unusual period from the mid 1600s to the early 1700s when our Sun paused its sunspot cycles.
The number of sunspots on our Sun typically ebbs and flows in a predictable 11-year cycle, but one unusual 70-year period when sunspots were incredibly rare has mystified s...
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October 11, 2020,
Astronomy/Space
NASA’s extensive fleet of spacecraft allows scientists to study the Sun extremely close-up — one of the agency’s spacecraft is even on its way to fly through the Sun’s outer atmosphere. But sometimes taking a step back can provide new insight.
In a new study, scientists looked at sunspots ...
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August 1, 2020,
Astronomy/Space
Extensive power outages and satellite blackouts that affect air travel and the internet are some of the potential consequences of massive solar storms. These storms are believed to be caused by the release of enormous amounts of stored magnetic energy due to changes in the magnetic field of the sun’s outer atmosphere — something that until now has eluded scientists’ direct measurement. Researchers believe this recent discovery could lead to better “space weather” forecasts in the future.
“We are becoming increasingly dependent on space-based systems that are sensitive to space weather...
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May 9, 2016,
Astronomy/Space
About 80 solar cycles seen from the surface, i.e. more than 1,000 years in solar time, modelled by means of a computer simulation. At 20-50 years in simulation time, a simulated grand minimum occurs, which in actual fact is the maximum of magnetic energy. Credit: Image courtesy of Aalto University
The study of the Sun’s long-term variation over a millennium by means of super computer modelling showed that during a time period of the Maunder Minimum type, the magnetic field may hide at the bottom of the convection zone. The study seeks explanation for the mechanisms underlying the long-term variation in solar activity. The recently published study was carried out by running a global computer model of the Sun on Finland’s most powerful super computer over 6 months.
‘The Sun has an 11-year cy...
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