Comments on: More Tiny Tims and Cycle 23 solar crackles

By: Sun: Still quiet, over two months since a cycle 24 spot seen « Watts Up With That?

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 20:51:16 +0000

[...] sunspot has been seen on April 13th, 2008. There was a tiny cycle 24 ”sunspeck” that appeared briefly on May 13th, but according to solar physicist Leif Svaalgaard, that one never was assigned a number and did not [...]

By: Mike K

Mike K — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:01:40 +0000

Another Tiny Tim (I prefer that to sunspeck!) on the sun, another Cycle 23 http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-update.html. The Solar poles seem very dark in the top pictures, haven’t noticed them this dark before, I’m fairly new to this so is this unusual?

By: Evan Jones

Evan Jones — Mon, 19 May 2008 05:04:14 +0000

Cold, dead, sun I feel
Love for you is gone

By: George Ismael

George Ismael — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:18:28 +0000

Its sad to see our favorite fusion reactor so quiet.

You know, if you wanted to get energy out of a fusion reaction, one way would be to soak up the radiated heat.

A better way, of course, is to tap into the magnetic fields. Measuring “total solar radiation at the surface, therefore, cannot be the whole story on how the Earth is heated by the sun. There has to be an induction heating effect. I suppose the climate modelers have determined that this is a very small value, and can be ignored, but I can’t find any posts anywhere about it. Still, magnetic waves penetrate deep into the earth, and interact with an enormous VOLUME of molecules in the core and the mantle, so there is reason to believe the effect might be significant. A very small but pervasive change in the heat of core and mantle might result in increased seismic activity, and this might happen in both directions, when cooling or when heating.

So now we have a blank sun for too long and an uptick in seismic activity. Coincidence perhaps.

George

By: Theo

Theo — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:23:34 +0000

Checking for sunspots the ancient way… punch a round hole through something opaque and dark (as kids we used cardboard). Go into a darkened room and use the opaque material with a hole to block the sunlight (aim hole at the sun). Use the other wall, floor or another piece of cardboard to catch the image of the sun; focus and check for sunspots.
The cleaner the hole and the more blackened the room the sharper an image (reversed) of the sun you can obtain. Though I doubt one could ever view the tiny tim sun speckles reliably this way.

By: Pamela Gray

Pamela Gray — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:45:03 +0000

Very FUNNY!!!! Can you get a sound track of an old man snoring???

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:13:06 +0000

Hasse sais: “Has anyone seen the movie sunshine? It’s “the day after tomorrow” for solar entusiasths…”

I second that. If you can get Sunshine in BlueRay, definatly worth a watch. Maybe we could try that trick of detinating a nuke with all of earths uranium in the sun.

By: Pamela Gray

Pamela Gray — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:58:32 +0000

So once again we are back looking at cycle 23. The sun must have rotated out all of its magnetic kinks (the sun does not rotate at equivalent speeds so stuff gets all twisted and kinked together). It will take a while for the sun to wind back up again. It would seem that this kinking up would have a short and long term cycle to it. The upper, middle, and lower half does not kink up at the same rate. The middle rotation may even depend on outside forces periodically slowing and speeding its rate. Eventually the sections get to a line in the sand where everyone is taking off at the same time. This would all lead to the speculation that the differential rotation speeds can be predicted in terms of kinking potential. If the speed differentials periodically started off on the same longitudinal line, it would take some time to slowly work the kinks back in, thus eventually reving up the sun. This re-starting of the kinking would result in a very quiet sun from one cycle to the next till thinks start getting really kinked up again.

Just thinking out loud about minimum period predictions.

By: Beano

Beano — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:52:55 +0000

Tiny Tim the entertainer was 6ft 1inch (185cm). – A large gentleman. Maybe your sunspecks should be relabeled Tom Thumbs (a small sized entertainer)

Aaron C. Be careful about aiming you digital camera directly at the sun and checking the image on computer. You need filters for the lens otherwise you can damage the digital sensor.

REPLY: Wrong Tiny Tim, see this one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiny_Tim_%28A_Christmas_Carol%29

By: Jeff C.

Jeff C. — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:26:25 +0000

“You must learn one thing about NASA: it is not about science, but about funneling money from taxpayers to hardware manufacturers.”

Being that a hardware manufacturer makes it possible for me to feed my family and pay my mortgage, I resemble that comment.

By: Jerker Andersson

Jerker Andersson — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:57:43 +0000

Aaron C

From what I have managed to gather so far I would say:

1. We have better “eyes” watching the sun now when we have SOHO. We can track down spots easier when we can see both magnetic signatures and have 24h/day observation. But for the part if we had small sunspots last minimum or this one is exceptional I have still not found any clear info.

2. That might be possible, certainly when it comes to observations centuries ago. Maybe we where not looking for those tiny-tim spots previous decades when we looked for sunspots?

3. It is in theory possible that the Maunder Minimum and the other similar sun minima was not due to lack of sunspots but due to small and few sunspots that where hard to see. This is not proven as far as I know.

4 You look at the sun via a heavily shaded glass, NOT sunglasses, designed for observation of the sun. You can also project the light from the lens up in the roof if you have the telescope indoors. Then you will see an image of the sun up in the roof including sunspots. I have done this myself a few times.
If you project the light up in the roof, beware! Right above the lens the light is so concentrated that it can put wood on fire.

By: Aaron C

Aaron C — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:05:09 +0000

Many questions: 1) from what I have read here and in other related threads, these SC24 “sunspeck” -type spots have not been recorded before in other solar minimums, right?
2) Could it be that maybe they have always happened at the beginning of each cycle and just weren’t seen due to technological limitations?
3) If not, then could it really be a sign that the sun is going into a deep, long-term minimum?
4) from a non-astronomer, how do you look at the sun through a telescope and not go blind? I know you aren’t supposed to look at a solar eclipse., so I assume the telescopes have “sunglasses” type lenses?

Thanks for indulging me.

By: Ric Werme

Ric Werme — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:57:32 +0000

“Jerker Andersson (13:50:54) :

Very intersting graph in these times. I remember reading something about the price of wheat correlate better with the solar cycle than temperature correlate with CO2.”

Wheat is at http://tfc-charts.w2d.com/chart/CW/M or just go to http://tfc-charts.w2d.com/menu.html for the full meal.

Royal Astronomer Sir William Hershel in 1801 published that and was excoriated for his offering. See Influence of Solar Activity on State of Wheat Market in Medieval England for a modern update.

CO2 has been a suspect since 1820, through Joseph Fourier See The Carbon Dioxide Greenhouse Effect.

I have links to the latter two pages from my website.

By: sonicfrog

sonicfrog — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:18:09 +0000

Oh, wow. My car makes the same sound. I had no idea it was solar powered!

By: Tom in Florida

Tom in Florida — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:02:59 +0000

I noticed the other day that the ETI images on the SOHO pages showed a rather large darkened area at the “bottom” of the sun. Is this anything or is it something that comes and goes. I have to say that the feeling of direct sunlight on my skin seemed less intense the last couple of days since the dark spot appeared.