SPACE

[axel000]

Live coverage of Hubble spacewalk has begun:

http://www.space.com/php/popup/mediapla ... &mode=play

Airlock depressurized.

[ElfQrin]

Space Shuttle Atlantis against the Sun.

[Absolute_Zero]

Bigger, showing the shuttle just before it grabs Hubble [also visible].
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2009/1 ... gault1.jpg

[axel000]

OMG they are going to melt !!!

[Darkflame]

Can someone explain that photo?
I mean, that sun just looks far too perfect And how was it taken

[Absolute_Zero]

The one I linked was a Canon 5D Mark II attached to a solar-filtered Takahashi 5-inch refracting telescope. Filters, innit.

[matt303]

The Sun is also amazingly inactive at the moment recent sun image.

We've been waiting for about 3 years now for the next sunspot cycle to start.

[Absolute_Zero]

We can't be absolutely certain until we get into the Cycle 24 upswing but it looks from F10.7 microwave flux (a good proxy) that the bottom of the cycle was around December 2008.

NASA's prediction panel, SWPC, are calling #24 to be the weakest since 1928... many think it will be weaker still, maybe even Maunder-minimum-esque.

[Orava]

We can't be absolutely certain until we get into the Cycle 24 upswing but it looks from F10.7 microwave flux (a good proxy) that the bottom of the cycle was around December 2008.

NASA's prediction panel, SWPC, are calling #24 to be the weakest since 1928... many think it will be weaker still, maybe even Maunder-minimum-esque.

[Absolute_Zero]

Here's SWPC's prediction chart:


I want to quote the release because it's comical for the Biblical-scale alarmism that they manage to crowbar into the announcement of an upcoming weak cycle. ZOMG!!!

May 8, 2009: A new active period of Earth-threatening solar storms will be the weakest since 1928 and its peak is still four years away, after a slow start last December, predicts an international panel of experts led by NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. Even so, Earth could get hit by a devastating solar storm at any time, with potential damages from the most severe level of storm exceeding $1 trillion. NASA funds the prediction panel.

Solar storms are eruptions of energy and matter that escape from the sun and may head toward Earth, where even a weak storm can damage satellites and power grids, disrupting communications, the electric power supply and GPS. A single strong blast of solar wind can threaten national security, transportation, financial services and other essential functions.

The panel predicts the upcoming Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with 90 sunspots per day, averaged over a month. If the prediction proves true, Solar Cycle 24 will be the weakest cycle since number 16, which peaked at 78 daily sunspots in 1928, and ninth weakest since the 1750s, when numbered cycles began.

The most common measure of a solar cycle’s intensity is the number of sunspots—Earth-sized blotches on the sun marking areas of heightened magnetic activity. The more sunspots there are, the more likely it is that solar storms will occur, but a major storm can occur at any time.

“As with hurricanes, whether a cycle is active or weak refers to the number of storms, but everyone needs to remember it only takes one powerful storm to cause expensive problems,” said NOAA scientist Doug Biesecker, who chairs the panel. “The strongest solar storm on record occurred in 1859 during another below-average cycle similar to the one we are predicting.”

The 1859 storm shorted out telegraph wires, causing fires in North America and Europe, sent readings of Earth’s magnetic field soaring, and produced northern lights so bright that people read newspapers by their light.

A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences found that if a storm that severe occurred today, it could cause $1-2 trillion in damages the first year and require four to ten years for recovery, compared to $80-125 billion that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.

The panel also predicted that the lowest sunspot number between
cycles—or solar minimum—occurred in December 2008, marking the end of Cycle 23 and the start of Cycle 24. If the December prediction holds up, at 12 years and seven months Solar Cycle 23 will be the longest since 1823 and the third longest since 1755. Solar cycles span 11 years on average, from minimum to minimum.

An unusually long, deep lull in sunspots led the panel to revise its 2007 prediction that the next cycle of solar storms would start in March 2008 and peak in late 2011 or mid-2012. The persistence of a quiet sun since the last prediction has led the panel to a consensus that the next cycle will be “moderately weak.”

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is the nation’s first alert of solar activity and its effects on Earth. The Center’s space weather experts issue outlooks for the next 11-year solar cycle and warn of storms occurring on the Sun that could impact Earth. SWPC is also the world warning agency for the International Space Environment Service, a consortium of 12 member nations.

As the world economy becomes more reliant on satellite-based communications and interlinked power grids, interest in solar activity has grown dramatically. In 2008 alone, SWPC acquired 1,700 new subscription customers for warnings, alerts, reports, and other products. Among the new customers are emergency managers, airlines, state transportation departments, oil companies, and nuclear power stations. SWPC’s customers reside in 150 countries.

“Our customer growth reflects today’s reality that all sectors of society are highly dependent on advanced, space-based technologies,” said SWPC director Tom Bogdan. “Today every hiccup from the sun aimed at Earth has potential consequences.”

[Cloudane]

Just in from b3ta

[axel000]

[Darkflame]

Wait...I'm confused...if we are at an all-time low sunspot wise, what are people going to blame global warming on

The one I linked was a Canon 5D Mark II attached to a solar-filtered Takahashi 5-inch refracting telescope. Filters, innit.

Wouldnt there be atmospheric distortion if taken from the ground?

[PVB]

Wait...I'm confused...if we are at an all-time low sunspot wise, what are people going to blame global warming on

Sunspots don't cause global warming, CO2 and other gasses in the atmos do.

[Darkflame]

Dont be crazy. A gas trapping heat? insane.