Solar activity article

[sar104]

There was an interesting article published in Science this month about the relative lack of solar magnetic activity compared to similar stars. For anyone without full-text access to that journal then it was summarized in the New York Times:

There’s Something Special About the Sun: It’s a Bit Boring (Published 2020)

The sun seems a little less active than hundreds of similar stars in our galaxy, which could play a role in why life exists in our solar system.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Camino Ken]

There was an interesting article published in Science this month about the relative lack of solar magnetic activity compared to similar stars. For anyone without full-text access to that journal then it was summarized in the New York Times:

There’s Something Special About the Sun: It’s a Bit Boring (Published 2020)

The sun seems a little less active than hundreds of similar stars in our galaxy, which could play a role in why life exists in our solar system.

www.nytimes.com

Interesting conjecture about where it is, or might be, in its life cycle as well.

 

[Gindra]

Interesting article. I was aware that we are just starting emerge from Solar Minimum and have started seeing a few sunspots that have the magnetic signature of the new cycle. So far, none of these have cause solar flares. While there was one recent minor Coronal Mass Ejection a couple weeks ago, it merely grazed Earth so not much excitement there.

I designed and built a Fluxgate Magnetometer to monitor the fluctuations in the geomagnetic field, specifically correlated to solar activity (but also related to earthquakes). I also use a solar filter on my telescope to view solar activity. The relationship of earth-life to our star is inspiring to me. And the idea of being able to witness a Carrington-type CME event make my pulse race!

What we don't know about our own solar neighborhood is overwhelming! Looking forward to learning more about the observation noted in the article. Thanks for posting this.