NASA :The Sun's Magnetic Field is About to Flip

fedeykin
One thing I don't understand is this:

When the polarity shift on the sun happens, it happens rapidly.

The official theory of how the polarity shift on Earth happens, is that it happens slowly over many years.

There seems to be a disconnect here. Since I am too busy to do research on this, I'll throw the question out here.

If the sun can switch from today to tomorrow, why not the earth?

The magnetic field of Earth is caused by the rotation of our molten internal core, mostly made of Iron and other heavy metals. It is a slow rotational process, and the "North Magnetic Pole" creeps around the planet as the rotation of the core changes it's axis of rotation.

The Sun as well, has a magnetic field caused by a rotating core, but with much different characteristics.

The sun is not a solid ball, but rather like a fluid. It exhibits differential rotation, meaning the surface moves at different speeds depending on latitude. This results in the magnetic field lines getting wound up. When the winding gets extreme, the magnetic field lines "snap," causing solar flares at those locations on the surface.

-Source Space.com

The sun has an electrical characteristic that slowly builds up. You could say that it acts like a capacitor. The field causes activity at the surface of the sun, surging and ebbing in a regular cycle. At the peak of the cycle, the polarity of the field flips, during a time of maximum sunspot activity. Once it reaches a critical state, it flips poles rapidly. Science really does not know why, but we do know that it happens on an 11-12 year cycle.

If the last solar cycle started in 2008, would`t it be too early to have one before the end of this year or even next year?

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by cheesy


Starred! I will Flag when I have reached my 20 post limit!

What an amazing event by an amazing stellar actor!

I like to imagine that all the suns and stars are divers flipping and rotating in a stunning display!

Lets just hope that Sol doesn't try and pull of my namesake aka the Triple Lindy and backflip 3 times!

[edit] Flagged!