News tagged with solar maximum

Sunspots could soon disappear for decades: study

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sunspot formation is triggered by a magnetic field, which scientists say is steadily declining. They predict that by 2016 there may be no remaining sunspots, and the sun may stay spotless ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 15, 2010 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (55) | comments 576 | with audio podcast report

Aurora alert: The Sun is waking up (w/ Video)

Sky viewers might get to enjoy some spectacular Northern Lights, or aurorae, tomorrow. After a long slumber, the Sun is waking up. Early Sunday morning, the Sun's surface erupted and blasted tons of plasma ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Aug 02, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (31) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Solar Mystery Solved

(PhysOrg.com) -- Solar flares are amongst the most dangerous cosmic phenomena man has ever known. Though they pose no harm to humans, their effect on technology is vast. When they occur, they possess the capability ...

Physics / General Physics

created Aug 26, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (20) | comments 8 weblog

New Solar Cycle Prediction

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international panel of experts led by NOAA and sponsored by NASA has released a new prediction for the next solar cycle. Solar Cycle 24 will peak, they say, in May 2013 with a below-average ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Jun 01, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (20) | comments 16

Study: Small fluctuations in solar activity, large influence on the climate

(PhysOrg.com) -- Subtle connections between the 11-year solar cycle, the stratosphere, and the tropical Pacific Ocean work in sync to generate periodic weather patterns that affect much of the globe, according ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 27, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (16) | comments 9

New Solar Cycle Prediction: Fewer Sunspots, But Not Necessarily Less Activity

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international panel of experts has released a new prediction for the next solar cycle, stating that Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots. Led by ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 27, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (16) | comments 5

New kind of solar cell could capture significantly more energy than current cells

New solar cells could increase the maximum efficiency of solar panels by over 25%, according to scientists from the University of Cambridge.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (14) | comments 14 | with audio podcast

Solar Cycle Driven by More than Sunspots

(PhysOrg.com) -- Challenging conventional wisdom, new research finds that the number of sunspots provides an incomplete measure of changes in the Sun's impact on Earth over the course of the 11-year solar ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Sep 17, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (14) | comments 4

The Sun's Sneaky Variability

Every 11 years, the sun undergoes a furious upheaval. Dark sunspots burst forth from beneath the sun's surface. Explosions as powerful as a billion atomic bombs spark intense flares of high-energy radiation. ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Oct 28, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (11) | comments 5

Change in solar activity brings increased radiation risk to air passengers

(PhysOrg.com) -- Radiation risks to airplanes and spacecraft are likely to increase when the Sun moves from its present grand solar maximum to lower levels of activity, says research from the University of ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Aug 16, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (12) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Space weather could wreak havoc in gadget-driven world

A geomagnetic space storm sparked by a solar eruption like the one that flared toward Earth Tuesday is bound to strike again and could wreak havoc across the gadget-happy modern world, experts say.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Feb 20, 2011 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 12

Solar 'climate change' could cause rougher space weather

(PhysOrg.com) -- Recent research shows that the space age has coincided with a period of unusually high solar activity, called a grand maximum. Isotopes in ice sheets and tree rings tell us that this grand ...

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Apr 02, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (9) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Atmospheric 'sunshade' could reduce solar power generation

The concept of delaying global warming by adding particles into the upper atmosphere to cool the climate could unintentionally reduce peak electricity generated by large solar power plants by as much as one-fifth, ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Mar 11, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (6) | comments 27

How big are sunspots?

The short answer? Really big. The long answer? Really, really big.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created May 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Cheap and efficient solar cell made possible by linked nanoparticles

Researchers of the Chemical Engineering department and the Kavli institute of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have demonstrated that electrons can move freely in layers of linked semiconductor nanoparticles ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0