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Sunspots are most common during a sunspot (solar magnetic) maximum, this occurs periodically, on an 11 year cycle.
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Did changes in numder of sunspots affect earth in the distant past?
Probably so, and it still does today. We don't know the reason for the connection, but the weather is typically colder during times when the sunspot number is low for long periods. There have been two multi-decade long periods of very low sunspot activity, the Maunder Minimum and the Dalton Minimum. Each is associated with extended periods of unusually cold weather.
How do sunspots promineneces flares and CMEs effects earth?
The Sun's activity varies, sometimes being hotter, sometimes being colder. The amount of activity on the sun has been measured for over 2000 years by observing spots on the Sun's surface. The more active the Sun is, the more of these spots appear on the surface. During these periods of heavy solar activity, the sun is a little bit hotter and the sun ejects more material off its surface. This has a minor effect on temperature of the Earth and the other planets. It will be a mistake to believe that the number of sunspots on any particular day determines that day's temperature. Solar activity may increase the heating of the Earth, but the Earth's temperature does not respond instantly. There are also other important factors that effect the Earth's temperature, including the changes in the tilt of the Earth (called precession, over tens of thousands of years) and the accumulation of dust in the atmosphere from volcanoes or meteor impact (which only last for a couple years). In the last several years, sunspots have been at an unprecedented minimum, and yet the Earth's temperature is near its highest in recorded history. Clearly global warming cannot simply be attributed to an 11 year sun cycle.
What do some scientists say about the relationship between sunspots and the Earth's temperature?
According to current theory, sunspots occur in pairs as magnetic disturbances in the convective plasma near the Sun's surface. Magnetic field lines emerge from one sunspot and re-enter at the other spot. Also, there are more sunspots during periods of increased magnetic activity. At that time more highly charged particles are emitted from the solar surface, and the Sun emits more UV and visible radiation. Direct measurements are uncertain.
Includes prominence's and solar flares?
We're not sure, although this is a matter of intense study. We know that there is a correlation between low sunspot numbers and low solar activity, and we know that there is a correlation between high numbers of sunspots and high solar activity. We're pretty sure that one doesn't cause the other, but that both are caused by some other factor of which we are not yet aware. There have been two recorded periods in the last few hundred years during which there was a long spell of lower-than-normal sunspot activity, and these are named for the astronomers who noted them. These were called the "Maunder Minimum" and the "Dalton Minimum", and each was followed by a period of unusually cool weather. Here also, we're not sure what the relationship is, or if it was just coincidental. If you would like to see the current sunspot number and a photo of the Sun today, visit spaceweather.com at the link below.
How are sunspots related to prominence and solar flares?
The sun don't really need sunspots cause sunspots are related to several features on the sun's surface but prominences and solar flares need sunspots.Sunspots are the places where the magnetic field lines of the Sun poke out of the Sun to form loops.Where they poke out they are seens as prominences against the edge of the Sun's visible disk during an eclipse of the Sun.The looped magnetic field lines contain energy and are unstable, When they break and reconnect they release this energy suddenly and cause solar flares.
How might earth be affected by the activity of sunspots on on the suns surface?
We're not sure why, but when there are very few sunspots during the 11-year "sunspot cycle", or when that cycle slows down, we experience colder than usual weather here on Earth. We've only been tracking sunspots for about 400 years; before then, nobody knew to look for them, or were able to. The sunspot cycle which began last year is Cycle 24. There have been two extended periods of few or no sunspots; one was the Maunder Minimum, from 1645 to 1715, and the Dalton Minimum, from 1790 to 1830. The Maunder Minimum coincides with a period known as the "Little Ice Age", and during the Dalton Minimum the recorded temperatures were perhaps 2-3 degrees below normal. Periods of increased sunspot activities appear to be associated with slightly higher than normal temperatures.
How might the earth be affected by the activity of sunspots on the suns surface?
We're not sure why, but when there are very few sunspots during the 11-year "sunspot cycle", or when that cycle slows down, we experience colder than usual weather here on Earth. We've only been tracking sunspots for about 400 years; before then, nobody knew to look for them, or were able to. The sunspot cycle which began last year is Cycle 24. There have been two extended periods of few or no sunspots; one was the Maunder Minimum, from 1645 to 1715, and the Dalton Minimum, from 1790 to 1830. The Maunder Minimum coincides with a period known as the "Little Ice Age", and during the Dalton Minimum the recorded temperatures were perhaps 2-3 degrees below normal. Periods of increased sunspot activities appear to be associated with slightly higher than normal temperatures.
How might the earth be affected by the activity of the sunspots on the sun's surface?
We're not sure why, but when there are very few sunspots during the 11-year "sunspot cycle", or when that cycle slows down, we experience colder than usual weather here on Earth. We've only been tracking sunspots for about 400 years; before then, nobody knew to look for them, or were able to. The sunspot cycle which began last year is Cycle 24. There have been two extended periods of few or no sunspots; one was the Maunder Minimum, from 1645 to 1715, and the Dalton Minimum, from 1790 to 1830. The Maunder Minimum coincides with a period known as the "Little Ice Age", and during the Dalton Minimum the recorded temperatures were perhaps 2-3 degrees below normal. Periods of increased sunspot activities appear to be associated with slightly higher than normal temperatures.
How might Earth be affected by the activity of sunspots on the surface of the sun?
We're not sure why, but when there are very few sunspots during the 11-year "sunspot cycle", or when that cycle slows down, we experience colder than usual weather here on Earth. We've only been tracking sunspots for about 400 years; before then, nobody knew to look for them, or were able to. The sunspot cycle which began last year is Cycle 24. There have been two extended periods of few or no sunspots; one was the Maunder Minimum, from 1645 to 1715, and the Dalton Minimum, from 1790 to 1830. The Maunder Minimum coincides with a period known as the "Little Ice Age", and during the Dalton Minimum the recorded temperatures were perhaps 2-3 degrees below normal. Periods of increased sunspot activities appear to be associated with slightly higher than normal temperatures.
Do solar eruptions have a pattern?
Yes. There is a cycle about 11 years long from the "Solar Minimum" to the "Solar Maximum" to the "Solar Minimum" again. During the minimums, there are few sunspots and not many big flares and eruptions. In 2008, for example, there were 300 days with ZERO sunspots. Today (January 28, 2009) the sunspot number is 11, but for the last week it has been 0. In 5 years or so, we expect the Sun to be very speckled, with sunspot numbers of 300 or more.
Do sunspot regions exist today that could be a source of solar storms?
Yes, new sunspots form all the time during solar maxima.
Did changes in numder of sunspots affect earth in the distant past?
Probably so, and it still does today. We don't know the reason for the connection, but the weather is typically colder during times when the sunspot number is low for long periods. There have been two multi-decade long periods of very low sunspot activity, the Maunder Minimum and the Dalton Minimum. Each is associated with extended periods of unusually cold weather.
How much sunspots are there on the sun during the peak of the sunspot cycle?
At a minimum, there are no sunspots at all, and the Sun can remain spotless for months at a time. In 2009, for example, there were 260 spotless days. In 2008, there had been 200 spotless days - by September! This last solar minimum lasted for about 18 months longer than is "normal", whatever "normal" is. Since December 2009, the Sun has slowly become more and more active, with at least a few sunspots visible almost every day since then. The Solar Maximum in 2004 was QUITE active; the Sun looked freckled!
What is a Maunder object?
A "Manunder Object" could be a sunspot occurring during the Maunder Minimum. The Maunder Minimum is the name given to the period roughly spanning 1645 to 1715 by John A. Eddy in a landmark 1976 paper published in Science titled "The Maunder Minimum", when sunspots became exceedingly rare, as noted by solar observers of the time. Astronomers before Eddy had also named the period after the solar astronomer Edward W. Maunder (1851-1928) who studied how sunspot latitudes changed with time.
What has the author Robert M Wilson written?
Robert M. Wilson has written: 'On the importance of cycle minimum in sunspot cycle prediction' -- subject(s): Solar activity, Sunspot cycle, Sunspots, Minima 'Statistical aspects of solar flares' -- subject(s): Solar flares 'On long-term periodicities in the sunspot record' -- subject(s): Sunspots 'Decadal trends of Atlantic Basin tropical cyclones (1950-1999)' -- subject(s): Periodic variations, Climate change, Trends, Tropical storms, Hurricanes 'On the statistics of El Nino occurrences and the relationship of El Nino to volcanic and solar/geomagnetic activity' -- subject(s): Air water interactions, El Nino 'Volcanism, cold temperature, and paucity of sunspot observing days (1818-1858)' -- subject(s): Cataclysmic variables, Histories, Meteorology, Sunspot cycle, Volcanology 'An estimation of the likelihood of significant eruptions during 2000-2009 using Poisson statistics on two-point moving averages of the volcanic time series' -- subject(s): Climate, Global warming, Volcanic eruptions, Climatic change 'On the relationship between sunspot number and the flare index' -- subject(s): Sunspot cycle, Sunspots, Solar flares 'On the correlation between maximum amplitude and smoothed monthly mean sunspot number during the rise of the cycle (from t=0-48 months past sunspot minimum)' -- subject(s): Sunspot cycle, Amplitudes, Correlation 'Deciphering the long-term trend of Atlantic basin intense hurricanes' -- subject(s): Trends, Structural basins, Hurricanes
What do scientists think Causes sunspots?
Astronomers have known for many years that sunspots are "storms" on the sun's surface, and also that solar prominences seen flaring from the sun during an eclipse probably come from sunspots. what they do not know - yet - is why the sunspots occur in farily regular cycles of many, gradually diminishing to few, and then rising again to many. Times of high sunspot activity are usually also times of high Northern Lights activity and radio interference on earth.
How do sunspots promineneces flares and CMEs effects earth?
The Sun's activity varies, sometimes being hotter, sometimes being colder. The amount of activity on the sun has been measured for over 2000 years by observing spots on the Sun's surface. The more active the Sun is, the more of these spots appear on the surface. During these periods of heavy solar activity, the sun is a little bit hotter and the sun ejects more material off its surface. This has a minor effect on temperature of the Earth and the other planets. It will be a mistake to believe that the number of sunspots on any particular day determines that day's temperature. Solar activity may increase the heating of the Earth, but the Earth's temperature does not respond instantly. There are also other important factors that effect the Earth's temperature, including the changes in the tilt of the Earth (called precession, over tens of thousands of years) and the accumulation of dust in the atmosphere from volcanoes or meteor impact (which only last for a couple years). In the last several years, sunspots have been at an unprecedented minimum, and yet the Earth's temperature is near its highest in recorded history. Clearly global warming cannot simply be attributed to an 11 year sun cycle.
