A sleeping giant is starting to awake after a years-long slumber. No, this is not a story about some fictional, science fiction monster, but something far more fearsome: our nearest star, the Sun.
Every 11 years, the Sun goes through a regular cycle, peaking, weakening, and ten peaking agan in activity. When at peak, the Sun will exhibit lots of black sunspots, arc-like prominances, and flaming solar flares that also blast billions of highly-charged particles into space, the solar wind. At minimum, the Sun does almost nothing of the sort, staying quiet until, for reasons that are still not completely understood, activity picks up again.
Now, after a years-long slumber, the Sun is finally starting to wake up again.
Ever since it entered minimum in 2008, the Sun has been unusually quuet, exhibiting the lowest levels of activity in about 100 years. Throughout this timem, the Sun would tease astronomers, showing clusters of spots and leading many to believe that minimum, which normally lasts a year, was about to end, only to go silent once again. This time, though, the Sun seems to be waking for good.
Ince the start of February, sunspot activity has been on the rise, with some real monsters being visible at times. Even more telling has been the upswing of solar flare activity, which was virtually nil for three years. The Sun's coming out party: a pair of high-power X-class flares, in quick succession, this February. Since then, the flares, thought not all were as powerful, have come in quick succession as well as an increase in sunspot activity.
So, what does this mean?
On the positive side of things, greater chances for the eerily beautiful Northern Lights, especially for mid-latitude dwellers who live too low to see the Lights on a rehular basis. On the down side, increased solar activity brings an increased risk for solar storms, which can play havoc with all sorts of electronic devices like power grids, cell phones, and cars..
So, with solar activity predicted to peak come 2013, keep an eye on the Sun as it may have a lt more to do with day and night in the coming years!
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