Solar Minimum

[jaybreak]

The sun has been going kinda quiet lately, as predicted. There are practical, measurable effects with solar minimums and maximums, and those can cause chain reactions of other effects. The biggest one is probably the lesser protection from cosmic rays. But like the phases of the moon, solar activity might be something to keep in our awareness, individually, if we feel the pull to do so.

The Sun is so Blank, It Looks Like a Billiard Ball
JUNE 22, 2019 / DR.TONY PHILLIPS

June 21, 2019: The sun is blank–really blank. No sunspots have appeared for the past 34+ days, giving the sun the appearance of a giant orange billiard ball. This is a sign that Solar Minimum is underway. Earlier this year, a panel of experts from NOAA and NASA predicted that the solar cycle would reach its nadir sometime between July 2019 and Sept 2020. The current stretch of spotless suns is consistent with their forecast.

What happens when sunspots vanish? For one thing, solar flares stop happening. No big explosions means no shortwave radio blackouts and fewer geomagnetic storms. Also, the sun dims. Sunspots are sources of extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV). Without sunspots, EUV levels decrease, causing Earth’s upper atmosphere to cool and contract. Satellites and space junk stay in orbit longer as aerodynamic drag subsides.

During this phase of the solar cycle, the solar wind slows and the sun’s magnetic field weakens–shields down! This allows extra cosmic rays from deep space to penetrate the solar system. Indeed, recent high altitude balloon flights show increased radiation in Earth’s atmosphere. Extra cosmic rays can trigger lightning, alter the electro-chemistry of the upper atmosphere, and boost dose rates on commercial airplane flights.

Solar Minimum won’t last forever. Forecasters expect sunspot numbers to increase after 2019-2020, climaxing in a new Solar Maximum around 2023-2026.  Meanwhile, stay tuned for more blank suns.

[Ed Hurst]

I'm thinking that the biggest problem we have with awareness is that most Westerners give neither the moon nor the sun proper credit for what they do. They count on both of them for the wrong things. I think you and I agree that there is no human-caused global warming, and that the current weather trends are steered mostly by the solar activity cycle. And we can read about how, the longer it stays quiet on the sun, the closer we come to some degree of "ice age," but there's no political leverage talking about that, so it's ignored by the media and other so-called "influencers."

[IainH]

My stock comment to the subject of climate change is "IT'S THE SUN, STUPID?" It should be obvious but, hysteria is how TPTB controls the drones. It's certainly not exclusive to the Left, the Right is just as bad. When I hear words like crisis, threat and epidemic, I know whatever is connected to the word is BS and the opposite is likely to be true and that innocent people will get hurt. To keep the Drug War from being discussed at all, the prohibitionists manufacture "epidemics" currently it's opioids, which is affecting all chronic pain endurers negatively. The last one was The Meth Scourge. Eventually, the public loses interest and they switch focus but, to target law abiding patients is unconscionable. Our Lord has a special place for these people, I ask Him for one every morning. "Lord, smite the drug warriors". I'll add to that the neocon advocates for perpetual war. Look long enough at John Bolton and you'll see his horns. "Look at that guy, hun, I swear he has horns under that bad haircut!"

[jaybreak]

I'm thinking that the biggest problem we have with awareness is that most Westerners give neither the moon nor the sun proper credit for what they do. They count on both of them for the wrong things. I think you and I agree that there is no human-caused global warming, and that the current weather trends are steered mostly by the solar activity cycle. And we can read about how, the longer it stays quiet on the sun, the closer we come to some degree of "ice age," but there's no political leverage talking about that, so it's ignored by the media and other so-called "influencers."

I agree: probably no AGW, though I don't completely rule it out. As a rule, I ignore the conclusions of the political interest science industry. There's no real way of knowing the real science behind it, but chances are we're being asked to play a shell game, which ties back to Iain's comment about the continuous cycle of drug epidemics we're supposed to worry about. We used to be at war with Eurasia/meth, not we're at war with Eastasia/opioids, etc.

[Ed Hurst]

Yes, I agree the Drug War is all wrong. The vast majority of those abusing substances don't bother anyone else. The only people riled about that are the materialistic busybodies who want the profit from having another slave to make them rich. We have plenty of good punishments for folks who do stupid things that hurt others, regardless of whether they did so under the influence of any chemicals.

[Ed Hurst]

I also wanted to note that the Drug War is the other half of a nefarious scheme to profit from the massive importation of drugs into this country by the Intel Community, which is a wholly different kind of crime. Still, it's all part of a very well established plan to harm us little people for the sake of profit. It's one of the ways our productivity is skimmed off.

[jaybreak]

I also wanted to note that the Drug War is the other half of a nefarious scheme to profit from the massive importation of drugs into this country by the Intel Community, which is a wholly different kind of crime. Still, it's all part of a very well established plan to harm us little people for the sake of profit. It's one of the ways our productivity is skimmed off.

No doubt. Without knowing any history or facts on the subject, we can infer this pretty reasonable from human behavior. We know people want to profit, and there's nothing to say bureaucrats act more moral than any other person. It might be hard to prove particulars but we can assume things pretty easily because human behavior scales.