Trust me: I'm an expert at eating crackers and acting like I own the place.
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(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/sun_update_050816.htmlIn recent years researchers have learned much about the Sun's temper, relying on new data from satellites that keep a constant eye on the situation. But many mysteries remain, and forecasts are only about as reliable as weather predictions were in the 1950s, experts say.A new study, detailed in the Astrophysical Journal, reveals a previously unknown aspect to solar eruptions.Active regions on the Sun's surface have specific magnetic orientations. When an electrical current with an opposite orientation climbs to the surface from inside the Sun, solar flares can be produced. The flares are often associated with coronal mass ejections, which are blasts of charged particles that can cause threaten power grids, aircraft, communication technologies, and space-walking astronauts.Figuring out how the largest flares were produced was a two-step process."First, we discovered characteristic patterns of magnetic field evolution associated with strong electrical currents in the solar atmosphere," said Marc DeRosa of Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center. "It is these strong electrical currents that drive solar flares."Next the group discovered that the regions most likely to produce a flare had new magnetic fields merge with them that were clearly of a different alignment than the current field. "It had to come up in the wrong orientation – different from what already existed – to make a flare," said Karel Schrijver a Physicist at Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory. "Those that carried the wrong electrical currents produced flares two to three times more often and had ten times more flare energy."To make the actual predictions, the group compared magnetic maps from SOHO to Sun surface images from TRACE – two satellites that keep a constant watch on the Sun. If actual observations matched up to the computer model of the magnetic fields, then no flares would erupt."But, if the model doesn't match up with the observation, strong electrical currents are indeed present in this region," DeRosa said. "Strong flares have a better chance of occurring in this region."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18205432/displaymode/1107/s/2/framenumber/1/ -- img slideshowhttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18202449/When astronauts return from space, what they talk about isn’t the brute force of the rocket launch or the exhilaration of zero gravity. It’s the view.And it’s mankind’s rarest view of all, Earth from afar.Only two dozen men — those who journeyed to the moon — have seen the full Earth view.Most space travelers, in low orbit, see only a piece of the planet — a lesser but still impressive glimpse. They have seen the curvature of Earth, its magnificent beauty, its fragility, and its lack of borders.The first full view of Earth came from the moon-bound Apollo 8 during the waning days of a chaotic 1968. Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders put it in perspective in a documentary: “We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.”Some of the photos Anders took were used on posters and pins on the first Earth Day in 1970. They’ve been “an environmental staple of Earth Days ever since,” said Denis Hayes, the first Earth Day coordinator.For Earth Day this year — at a time when perhaps some perspective is needed — The Associated Press asked space travelers to recall what it’s like to see Earth from above:“It was the only color we could see in the universe. ... “We’re living on a tiny little dust mote in left field on a rather insignificant galaxy. And basically this is it for humans. It strikes me that it’s a shame that we’re squabbling over oil and borders.”—Bill Anders, Apollo 8, whose photos of Earth became famous.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18231696/A giant cloud of superheated gas 6 million light years wide might be formed by the collective sigh of several supermassive black holes, scientists say. The plasma cloud, detailed in April 10 issue of Astrophysical Journal, might be the source of mysterious cosmic rays that permeate our universe.“One of the most exciting aspects of the discovery is the new questions it poses,” said study leader Philipp Kronberg of Los Alamos National Laboratories in New Mexico. “For example, what kind of mechanism could create a cloud of such enormous dimensions that does not coincide with any single galaxy or galaxy cluster? Is that same mechanism connected to the mysterious source of ultra high energy cosmic rays that come from beyond our galaxy?”
Everyone is dying. We're born into the grave etc etc
G is just sad about the sun dying because he someday wishes to eat attack it.
Now is that before going supernova?
Quote from: G on April 23, 2007, 02:37:28 PMNow is that before going supernova?The Sun isn't really big enough to go supernova-generally supernovas originate from really massive stars or binary star systems.
