The Sun

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/may...ough-in-stereo

be well, be love.

david

seeing sun storms in stereo
twin satellites give a 3-d view of solar explosions before they hit earth.
by niels tadlie


thanks to the solar terrestrial relations observatory (stereo), astrophysicists are getting an unprecedented three-dimensional view of the sun. the twin satellites are now beaming back their first pictures of explosive events on the solar surface. slightly separated from each other, the two can image events on the sun’s surface simultaneously, allowing depth perception. before stereo, astrophysicists had no way of tracing the front of a solar storm as it traveled from the sun to earth, so they had to guess when a storm would hit. stereo’s detailed in-depth view will give them a forecast accurate to within a couple of hours.

one of stereo’s most important tasks will be tracking solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which pack the force of a billion-megaton nuclear bomb and are the most powerful explosions in the solar system. these turbulent events also send out a burst of solar wind—energetic subatomic particles—that strikes earth’s magnetic field within 21 hours, creating a geomagnetic storm. that can translate into space weather severe enough to knock out radio communications and satellites, and even overload terrestrial power grids. nasa scientists estimate that a worst-case solar storm could have an economic impact similar to that of a category 5 hurricane or a tsunami: one scenario shows that the cost of lost satellites could be as much as $70 billion. knowing when such storms are coming helps protect astronauts as well as ground communications: physicists estimate that a 1989 solar outburst released enough radiation to expose astronauts on the mir space station to their yearly dose in just a few hours.

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://spaceweather.com

be well, be love.

david

solar sounds: on may 19th at 12:52 universal time, a magnetic filament erupted on the sun. the blast sent shock waves billowing through the sun's atmosphere; those waves, in turn, generated strong type ii solar radio emissions. amateur astronomer thomas ashcraft heard them in the loudspeaker of his 21 mhz ham receiver. click on the image to listen:

"it was 6:52 am here in new mexico, and the sun was just rising over the mountains," says ashcraft. "i was lucky to catch the full power of the radio emission, which was peaking at the heart of my observing frequencies."

the sun has been remarkably "radio-active" lately. want to tune in? visit nasa's radiojove site to learn how you can build your own radio telescope.

[alchemikey]

wow...that sounds a whole lot like waves of water

[soup]

it sounds like a rainstorm to me, as if some natural way of cleansing the atmosphere of all those toxic emissions of one sort or another.

[pyramidnj]

thanks for this "opportunity" david! as i listened to the sound of the solar activity, i was inspired to shift my consciousness to the sun, within the center and the root of those energy bursts, to experience the fullness and beauty of what was transpiring. the sound served as a beacon to allow me to make that shift and it was an amazing experience, allowing me to infuse feelings of love with that sound as the energy was spewed forth. new experience for me! i am feeling a bit "winded" after that cosmic frolicking....

dancing in the light and sound,
jo anne

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2....htm?list29945

be well, be love.

david

the ions are coming!
05.25.2007

may 25, 2007: a scientist using the solar and heliospheric observatory (soho) has found a way to forecast solar radiation storms. the new method offers as much as one hour advance warning, giving astronauts time to seek shelter and ground controllers time to safeguard their satellites when a storm is approaching.

"solar radiation storms are notoriously difficult to predict—they often take us by surprise," says physicist arik posner who developed the technique. "but now we've found a way to anticipate these events."

right: artist's concept of a radiation storm approaching earth. [more]

posner is a member of the research staff of the southwest research institute in san antonio, texas; he also works at nasa headquarters in washington, dc. his study, up to one-hour forecasting of radiation hazards from solar energetic ion events, appears in the journal space weather.

solar radiation storms are swarms of electrons, protons and heavy ions accelerated to high speed by explosions on the sun. here on earth we are protected from these particles by our planet's atmosphere and magnetic field. astronauts in earth orbit are fairly safe, too; earth's magnetic field extends out far enough to shield them. the danger begins when astronauts leave this protective cocoon. the moon and mars, for instance, have no global magnetic fields, and "astronauts working on the surface of those worlds could be at risk," says posner.

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/as..._wind_999.html

be well, be love.

david

astrophysicists find fractal image of solar storm season imprinted on solar wind

researchers have detected fractal patterns in the solar wind.
by staff writers
warwick uk (spx) may 29, 2007

plasma astrophysicists at the university of warwick have found that key information about the sun's 'storm season' is being broadcast across the solar system in a fractal snapshot imprinted in the solar wind. this research opens up new ways of looking at both space weather and the unstable behaviour that affects the operation of fusion powered power plants.

fractals, mathematical shapes that retain a complex but similar patterns at different magnifications, are frequently found in nature from snowflakes to trees and coastlines. now plasma astrophysicists in the university of warwick's centre for fusion, space and astrophysics have devised a new method to detect the same patterns in the solar wind.

the researchers, led by professor sandra chapman, have also been able to directly tie these fractal patterns to the sun's 'storm season'. the sun goes through a solar cycle roughly 11 years long. the researchers found the fractal patterns in the solar wind occur when the sun was at the peak of this cycle when the solar corona was at its most active, stormy and complex - sunspot activity, solar flares etc. when the corona was quieter no fractal patterns were found in the solar wind only general turbulence.

[LightEye]

dear friends,

http://physorg.com/news99672854.html

be well, be love.

david

magnetic field uses sound waves to ignite sun's ring of fire

research explains century-old mystery about the interior of the sun

sound waves escaping the sun's interior create fountains of hot gas that shape and power a thin region of the sun's atmosphere which appears as a ruby red "ring of fire" around the moon during a total solar eclipse, according to research funded by the national science foundation (nsf) and nasa.

the results are presented today at the american astronomical society's solar physics division meeting in hawaii.

this region, called the chromosphere because of its color, is largely responsible for the deep ultraviolet radiation that bathes the earth, producing the atmosphere's ozone layer.

it also has the strongest solar connection to climate variability.

[soup]

i'm tryiing to understand this - it seems as if there is a possibility that magnetic fields near the surface of the sun form acoustical waveguides that allow energized material from the interior to erupt outward in a way that there appears a temperature gradient which turns cooler inside of that hot spewed material; it seems as if there's magnetic volcanos actively spewing to the suns high atmosphere.

[soup]

this reminds me of phi - the idea that phi raised to the zero power corresponds to one earth year, and phi raised to the fifth power corresponds to to the sun spot cycle (i.e. phi as a divine fractal.)