What's happening with the Sun?

I am a new member, but I have been visiting ATS recently.
I have found some strange things, and I am waiting for your response:

~2 weeks ago:



~1 week ago:



Today:



Maybe it's the satellite going wrong, but I don't know...

And as you can see, the other satellite is showing something "not normal":



[edit on 1-3-2009 by lotroman]

Well, it's difficult to draw conclusions from such a small data set. Perhaps it changes all the time. If you go back a year and study the photos, maybe you'll be able to establish a baseline of the sorts of variety to expect.

Good to keep looking though, the Sun is very important.

reply to post by lotroman


Unfortunately for all of us on earth without access to underground facilities, the sun is going to blow up soon.

God help us all.

Im not sure how to digest that information but there has been a lot of research lately that has said the sun is slowly releasing less and less energy over the past decade. At the moment, it is supposed to be devoid of sunspots which are supposed to be a sign of fusion/fission.

The number of Sunspots had been increasing since scientists began to take note 300 years ago.. supposedly, for the first time in 300 years, there are none.

This also goes hand in hand with "Global warming" trends .. Its one of the main reasons I am so skeptical of it.

reply to post by disgustedbyhumanity


the sun isnt going to blow...there will be a sola flare in 2012, an because of a weekness in the earths magnetic field it may cause mayhem with comunication sytems.....thats all

Try this link...a lot of Solar information....
Might give you some clues...

www.spaceweather.com...

The sun is going through a scary time right now. As we approach 2012 we are going to see a solar storm larger than anything we have seen in thousands of years. Our electronics are going to blow and we are going to be at risk of severe sunburn. Keep watching the satellite imagery. You just might be the one to let us know of our impending doom.

Nice thread, and let us know of what else you find.

reply to post by wiredamerican


the last sola storm this big was only a few years ago

Not to sound like the new guy in the thread here, but I am a bit of an amateur when it comes to Astronomy.


I understand what sun spots are and how they can affect earth in many different ways, what I don't understand is the implications involved when the sun stops producing flares. Would this not seem like a good thing?

I assume it means the Sun is not functioning properly, loosing it's edge so to speak. I have read that our sun's life span is not suppose to end for another 500k years or so.

If any resident astronomers could fill me in, I would be most appreciative.

~Keeper

Well, over the last few years, the sun has been emitting an awful lot of energy. There is probably a lull in the amount of activity. I am sure that it will peak again between now and 2012...

it looks like the machine they are using to photograph the sun is "dieing" but that's just me. i know nothing of how the sun works etc.

From what I have read, the sun has been increasing in activity. As a result, all of the planets in the solar system have been heating up. That was one of the sticking points between global warming proponents and opponents (the cause of warming). The sun has solar minimums and solar maximums in regard to activity and 2012 is supposed to be a solar maximum. With the other factors, i.e. droping magnetic field of Earth, it could cause all sorts of damage to our satellites, electronics, and electrical grid.

SOHO Website sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov...

Latest SOHO Images sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov...

Based on what I have read, there is nothing wrong with the sun. We are simply in a solar minimum. The sun has an 11-year cycle, and goes through phases of high activity and low activity. This current phase of low activity in not unprecedented. The years of 1912, 1913, 1933, and 1954 had even less sunspot activity than 2008.

But if the sun did blow up, underground facilities would be of little use. I think I read it would become a red giant first, in which case it's circumference would expand beyond the orbit of Earth. Since unpreventable, it seems like a pointless thing to worry about.

That cycle was supposed to end two years ago. So far, it's not ramping back up. It's not that this is terribly unusual or anything to freak out over, to a lot of people in forecasting weather, it will mean colder temps until it does.

If the sun does blow, you'll be just as dead under ground as anywhere else. It will melt everything. It will burn off the atmosphere. There will be nothing left but a charred rock exposed to intense heat and radiation. There is no air conditioning in the universe that would be able to deal with it.

However, that shouldn't happen for a few million years or so. The sun has an awful lot of mass.

In the meantime, if we want our global warming, we need those sunspots.