Our Sun and Butterfly’s
October 26th 2010 01:36
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Image by SolarScience NASA
You are probably wondering what the Sun and butterfly’s have in common.
Our Sun has been around before the earth was fully formed. Serious studies of the Sun have only recently begun. What I mean by “recently “ lets say over the last few centuries.
Observers have stated that the Sun’s processes have been rather stable and consistent since 1820s.
Although sunspots have been observed as far back as 364 BC by Chinese astronomers, telescopic observations of them did not commence until the early 1600′s.
However continuous observation of the sun and its spots started in 1876. Edward Maunder an astronomer at the Royal Greenwich Observatory recorded the pattern of sunspots as butterflies and published them in the format that is become known as the Butterfly diagram first published in1904.
The diagram, in its original form usually only comprises data starting from around 1870s and is still being used now.
With the discovery of previously archived data has extended the diagram back an additional half century, covering four new solar cycles.
The butterfly pattern shows the increase in sunspot activity at the beginning of the 11 years solar cycle. Sunspots tend to form at high latitudes of the Sun, but as the cycle reaches a maximum the spots form at lower latitudes.
The resulting pattern produced looks like a butterfly.
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Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
Camera Sense
Sunspots are actually cooler regions on the Sun's surface.
They do not have a direct affect other than show up in the course of the Sun's 11 year cycle.
There are a few theories that shed light on why Mars lost its atmosphere.
One possibility is that Mars lost its magnetic field, without a strong magnetic field like Earth the Martian atmosphere was stripped by the Solar winds and radiation from the Sun.