Hi
The Sun is of course the central star in are solar system, the life force without it's light there would be no life on earth. And the Sun is currently in Solar minimum.
Now the Sun is a massive subject and I am incapable of summing up it's entirety in a single post, so this post is going to be on the solar cycle and, the current and unusual solar minimum it is in.
The Sun goes in solar cycles over a period of 11 years. In a solar cycle there is a minimum and a maximum, we are currently in a minimum. The solar cycle is basically a measure of sunspots and solar activity. At solar minimum there is very few sunspots and at maximum there is loads. For earth at least solar maximum is a serious worry, because when at maximum the Sun is more likely to produce a CME (Coronal mass ejection). A CME occurs when the Sun releases a chunk of solar material and high energy particles, this material then speeds away from the sun and can on occasion come to the earth. When it comes to the earth it is worrying for many, the astronauts for instance on the space station don't want to be around when this comes. Without the protective atmosphere of earth, the radiation isn't dispersed and " Scrambles your DNA" giving you cancer or other nasty diseases. The high energy radiation will also nock satellites out which is problamatic for GPS.
After a solar maximum the new solar cycle starts. Astronomers on earth know when this as happened because the first sunspot of the new solar cycle as a different polarity to that of the cycle before. Which means if the previous cycle polarity was north the next cycles would be south. The polarities switch because every 11 years with the solar cycle the magnetic field of the entire Sun switches, meaning the north becomes the south and vice versa. Sorry if that wasn't well exsplained but it's hard to find the words. This effect also happens with the Earth over a much longer time scale, so at some point the magnetic field of the Earth will also switch!
Solar cycles come and go. The new solar cycle started at the start of 2009 late 2008. And are usually pretty uniform at maximum there is a lot of flares and sunspots. And at minimum there is very few yet still some sunspots. Now that is what makes the current solar cycle interesting. As you can see in the image above there is not one sunspot to be seen. Why this as happened is not fully understood but it does have effects on earth. The Aurora which is caused by the magnetic field of the Sun is one effect. Because with no sunspots which are affected by the magnetic field. It is unlikely there will be large amounts of Aurora activity. there is no reason to be worried however as it is highly improbable that the Sun's energy output will decrease. It does however mean that Solar observers will have little to look at in the immediate future!
Solar cycles come and go. The new solar cycle started at the start of 2009 late 2008. And are usually pretty uniform at maximum there is a lot of flares and sunspots. And at minimum there is very few yet still some sunspots. Now that is what makes the current solar cycle interesting. As you can see in the image above there is not one sunspot to be seen. Why this as happened is not fully understood but it does have effects on earth. The Aurora which is caused by the magnetic field of the Sun is one effect. Because with no sunspots which are affected by the magnetic field. It is unlikely there will be large amounts of Aurora activity. there is no reason to be worried however as it is highly improbable that the Sun's energy output will decrease. It does however mean that Solar observers will have little to look at in the immediate future!
Kyle
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