Coooool
All I want out of life, I think, is for this to happen before I'm too old to try it.
If this generates a million questions for you, as it did for me, try here for a nice -- even if out-of-date -- explainer. (Yay, that noble and way-too-small tribe of skilled science writers. Why oh why did I ever quit your ranks?)
On the other hand, to join the portion of my insomnia attributable to extraplanetary causes, click here. It's an odd sort of we-really-don't-know-what-to-make-of-this article, but none of the alternatives seems good. If I understand it correctly, this eerie period of low sunspots and solar wind may mean:
1) We're entering another Maunder Minimum, which may offset global warming. The sheer and inexplicable fortuitousness of that would freak me out to the point of challenging my areligiosity, so not good. Also, I bet we'd cease all ameliorative efforts and truly deal a whammy to the first post-Minimum generation.
2) No Minimum. The next cycle of sunspots will be a doozy. Not stated in the article: if previous low activity has been correlated with low temperatures, then vigorous activity means...? (While equally fortuitous in a negative direction, this would not, curiously, clash with my brand of areligiosity in the least. Actually, it'd pretty much fit dead-on with my understanding of how the universe works.)
3) Nothing. Nobody needs to worry about a thing. Just like when they switch the Hadron Collider back on in April.
If this generates a million questions for you, as it did for me, try here for a nice -- even if out-of-date -- explainer. (Yay, that noble and way-too-small tribe of skilled science writers. Why oh why did I ever quit your ranks?)
On the other hand, to join the portion of my insomnia attributable to extraplanetary causes, click here. It's an odd sort of we-really-don't-know-what-to-make-of-this article, but none of the alternatives seems good. If I understand it correctly, this eerie period of low sunspots and solar wind may mean:
1) We're entering another Maunder Minimum, which may offset global warming. The sheer and inexplicable fortuitousness of that would freak me out to the point of challenging my areligiosity, so not good. Also, I bet we'd cease all ameliorative efforts and truly deal a whammy to the first post-Minimum generation.
2) No Minimum. The next cycle of sunspots will be a doozy. Not stated in the article: if previous low activity has been correlated with low temperatures, then vigorous activity means...? (While equally fortuitous in a negative direction, this would not, curiously, clash with my brand of areligiosity in the least. Actually, it'd pretty much fit dead-on with my understanding of how the universe works.)
3) Nothing. Nobody needs to worry about a thing. Just like when they switch the Hadron Collider back on in April.
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