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The Sun is the dimmest it has been for nearly a century.
There are no sunspots, very few solar flares – and our nearest star is the quietest it has been for a very long time.
The observations are baffling astronomers, who are due to study new pictures of the Sun, taken from space, at the UK National Astronomy Meeting.
The Sun normally undergoes an 11-year cycle of activity. At its peak, it has a tumultuous boiling atmosphere that spits out flares and planet-sized chunks of super-hot gas. This is followed by a calmer period.
Last year, it was expected that it would have been hotting up after a quiet spell. But instead it hit a 50-year low in solar wind pressure, a 55-year low in radio emissions, and a 100-year low in sunspot activity.
— BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | ‘Quiet Sun’ baffling astronomers
OH SHIT EVERYONE PANIC.
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I wonder how this affects our atmosphere and its effects on global warming.
The sun is hellbent on proving Al Gore wrong. Same as the Earth, with snowstorms following ManBearPig everywhere he goes.
Well, here’s your problem, you got the blue filter on silly.
@TGGeko: lolz
How silly. Who left the blue filter on? How many times have I told everyone to put things back where you found it, the way you found it. That’s it! No more ‘borrowing’ my things anymore.
Sun’s just come down from a huge LSD trip that’s lasted since the dawn of time, give the guy a break.
It’s obviously saving up for 2012 to roast us all with a massive coronal ejection.