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Solar Cycle 24 Begins
Guest_Sunspot_*
post Jan 4 2008, 07:45 PM
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Latest from spaceweather.com

SOLAR CYCLE 24: Solar physicists have been waiting for the appearance of a reversed-polarity sunspot to signal the start of the next solar cycle. The wait is over. A magnetically reversed, high-latitude sunspot emerged today: image. If you have a solar telescope, take a look at this important new active region. It marks the beginning of Solar Cycle 24 and the sun's slow ascent back to Solar Maximum.

Magnetic Image
Visible Light Image
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K-P
post Jan 5 2008, 12:38 PM
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At least here it has been really sunny day, seems to be a good cycle coming... smile.gif
Happy Birthday Sun!


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Guest_Sunspot_*
post Jan 5 2008, 12:43 PM
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I'm really excited about this news. Apparently the earlier the cycle beings the more intense it is likely to be.

The spot group is JUST about visible in my telescope, hardly anything more than a few specs.. but a VERY important one!!
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nprev
post Jan 5 2008, 05:56 PM
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Oh, joy. The last double-peaked beauty in '01-'02 royally messed up the Elmendorf AFB C-130 compass systems (rather, the associated geomagnetic storms did). Cycle 22's peak in '87-'88 did the same for A-10s I was working on in Arizona.

It sure was fun to try to explain that the Sun was doing this to a bunch of skeptical high-ranking officers as an enlisted guy, and later as a lowly civil servant. Fortunately, magnetic compasses on aircraft are being rapidly supplanted by dual or triple GPS-aided inertial nav systems these days.


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Canopus
post Jan 8 2008, 12:13 PM
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Finally, and I'm glad! Solar minimum is sooooo boring. I know it'll take a while for solar activity to gear up. By 2011/12 I will have a solar telescope (what's the point of buying one now?), and look forward to massive sunspots and raging CME's. wink.gif
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Guest_Sunspot_*
post Jan 11 2008, 06:03 PM
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QUOTE (Canopus @ Jan 8 2008, 12:13 PM) *
Finally, and I'm glad! Solar minimum is sooooo boring. I know it'll take a while for solar activity to gear up. By 2011/12 I will have a solar telescope (what's the point of buying one now?), and look forward to massive sunspots and raging CME's. wink.gif



Even when the Sun appears blank in visible light there is still a lot to see in H - alpha and other wavelengths.

And more Sunspot strangeness reported on spaceweather.com:

CURIOUS SUNSPOT: A new sunspot is emerging just south of the sun's equator, and it is a curious one. The spot's magnetic polarity is reversed compared to other nearby magnetic patches on the sun's surface.

Reversed-polarity sunspots are signs of a new solar cycle and, indeed, Solar Cycle 24 began just last week. So far, so good. But this spot is near the equator. New-cycle spots are supposed to be at high latitudes--hence the curiosity. Is this a genuine new-cycle spot? A weird old-cycle spot?

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Canopus
post Jan 19 2010, 01:29 PM
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Funny. I last posted in this thread 2 years ago and NOW (finally...good grief) we are having continuous REAL solar activity.

The news in 2008 proved to be premature.

Now I'll consider buying a solar telescope.
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Guest_Sunspot_*
post Jan 19 2010, 02:17 PM
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It is weird how in the last month the sun seems to have come to life. I suppose things good turn quiet again though - we've had a few false starts
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Canopus
post Jan 19 2010, 02:51 PM
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QUOTE
we've had a few false starts


Yes, that's occurred to me too. sad.gif I usually check spaceweather.com daily (except for Sundays and Mondays), and lately have been holding my breath a bit: Waiting to see if there'll be another blank Sun...followed by days of same.

Hopefully this Cycle has "taken" permanently. The minimum went on for far too long; geez.
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Guest_PhilCo126_*
post Feb 9 2010, 05:24 PM
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There's also some activity on our Sun's side that's turned away from us;
http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/beacon/beacon_secchi.shtml
smile.gif
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nprev
post Feb 9 2010, 10:50 PM
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Just gotta express some love for STEREO, here. This is a brilliant mission on so many levels; for the first time, we really have comprehensive direct solar activity monitoring, and thus far that's been a somewhat underappreciated achievement.


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jamescanvin
post Feb 17 2010, 08:31 AM
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QUOTE (Ron Hobbs @ Feb 16 2010, 05:19 PM) *
You know, I think we are going to need an SDO thread.


Agreed, this thread isn't really appropriate. I've split the SDO posts off to a new thread


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PDP8E
post Dec 29 2010, 02:53 PM
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Here is the latest (DEC-2010) update on Solar Minimum.
It looks like we are coming out.
It is safe to say that solar max will be low (80?) and late.
What does this say for Cycle 25?
Attached Image


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Gsnorgathon
post Dec 29 2010, 07:22 PM
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Can someone help out those of us in the peanut gallery? How do you get a negative number of sunspots? blink.gif
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JohnVV
post Dec 29 2010, 11:52 PM
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QUOTE
How do you get a negative number of sunspots?

from the standard average a "-" is possible
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