HFU HF Underground
General Category => General Radio Discussion => Topic started by: skeezix on August 08, 2013, 0311 UTC
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http://www.space.com/22271-sun-magnetic-field-flip.html (http://www.space.com/22271-sun-magnetic-field-flip.html)
The sun is gearing up for a major solar flip, NASA says.
In an event that occurs once every 11 years, the magnetic field of the sun will change its polarity in a matter of months, according new observations by NASA-supported observatories.
The flipping of the sun's magnetic field marks the peak of the star's 11-year solar cycle and the halfway point in the sun's "solar maximum" — the peak of its solar weather cycle. NASA released a new video describing the sun's magnetic flip on Monday (Aug. 5).
"It looks like we're no more than three to four months away from a complete field reversal," Todd Hoeksema, the director of Stanford University's Wilcox Solar Observatory, said in a statement. "This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system."
As the field shifts, the "current sheet" — a surface that radiates billions of kilometers outward from the sun's equator — becomes very wavy, NASA officials said. Earth orbits the sun, dipping in and out of the waves of the current sheet. The transition from a wave to a dip can create stormy space weather around Earth, NASA officials said.
Sun's Magnetic Field to Flip The sun's magnetic field is gearing up to shift, a once in 11 year event, according to NASA officials.
Credit: NASAView full size image
"The sun's polar magnetic fields weaken, go to zero, and then emerge again with the opposite polarity," Stanford solar physicist Phil Scherrer said in a statement. "This is a regular part of the solar cycle."
While the polarity shift can stir up some stormy weather, it also provides extra shielding from dangerous cosmic rays. These high-energy particles, which are accelerated by events like supernova explosions, zip through the universe at nearly the speed of light. They can harm satellites and astronauts in space, and the wrinkled current sheet better protects the planet from these particles.
The effects of the rippled sheet can also be felt throughout the solar system, far beyond Pluto and even touching the Voyager probes near the barrier of interstellar space.
"The sun's north pole has already changed sign, while the south pole is racing to catch up," Scherrer said. "Soon, however, both poles will be reversed, and the second half of solar max will be underway."
The current solar maximum is the weakest in 100 years, experts have said. Usually, at the height of a solar cycle, sunspot activity increases. These dark regions on the sun's surface can give birth to solar flares and ejections, but there have been fewer observed sunspots this year than in the maximums of previous cycles.
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The world is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. Real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes... the dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3ZOKDmorj0)
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Remember: just like the time change in the spring and fall should prompt you to change your smoke alarm batteries, this event is also a reminder.
Turn your foil hat inside out; the constant bombardment of thought rays on the outside of the hat causes a buildup of Wigner energy in the crystal lattice of the aluminum foil in the outside layer. If left unaddressed, this can lead to catastrophic meltdown of the hat when this energy is spontaneously released, usually resulting in what is known as an "exploding head". For those of us in the pirate world who have witnessed this, it's not a pretty sight. By turning the hat inside out, the other layer will begin to accumulate Wigner energy, equalizing the strain accumulated on the previous side.
I probably should have made this a blog post, due to its extreme technical content...
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USB and LSB get swapped as well, I think. Yet another reason to use AM.
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Al, you should get a pill caddy so these medication mix-ups don't happen so often.
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USB and LSB get swapped as well, I think. Yet another reason to use AM.
Cute 8)
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I am not on any medication that I know of.
Al, you should get a pill caddy so these medication mix-ups don't happen so often.
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USB and LSB get swapped as well, I think. Yet another reason to use AM.
LSB will be the manliest of modes? Hope RML is paying attention.
And what happens to C-QUAM?
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USB and LSB get swapped as well, I think. Yet another reason to use AM.
LSB will be the manliest of modes? Hope RML is paying attention.
And what happens to C-QUAM?
Take Gravol.... the "floating soundstage" bug will be exaggerated to the point you get dizzy :D
Peace!
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"Flip?" Isn't that what you call your comb-over, Al?
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there have been fewer observed sunspots this year than in the maximums of previous cycles
Damn global warming!
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"Everybody talks about space weather but nobody does anything about it."
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I keep hoping for a double peak like we had in the last solar cycle (#23). No hope for any F2 propagation on 50 MHz this time. :(