Sun spots appear to be teetering on the verge of vanishing from the surface of the sun perhaps for several decades.
That's one possibility raised by three independent studies unveiled Tuesday at a solar-physics meeting in Las Cruces, N.M.
If the trends the studies highlight hold, the researchers say, a sun humbled by changes in its own internal workings could produce fewer solar storms during a prolonged quiet period good news for satellite operators, astronauts, and Earthbound utility companies that must keep solar storms from triggering blackouts.
A long quiescent period also could provide an unexpected, natural laboratory for investigating often-discussed but poorly explored links between sunspot activity and global climate.
The most oft-cited example of a shutdown in sun spots is the so-called Maunder Minimum, a 70-year period that began around 1645. Sun spots virtually vanished from the sun's surface. The decline coincided with a climate period known as the Little Ice Age, when temperatures fell substantially in various locations around the globe and different times during the time span.
A sun with no sun spots? What that could mean for Earth and its climate. - CSMonitor.com
That's one possibility raised by three independent studies unveiled Tuesday at a solar-physics meeting in Las Cruces, N.M.
If the trends the studies highlight hold, the researchers say, a sun humbled by changes in its own internal workings could produce fewer solar storms during a prolonged quiet period good news for satellite operators, astronauts, and Earthbound utility companies that must keep solar storms from triggering blackouts.
A long quiescent period also could provide an unexpected, natural laboratory for investigating often-discussed but poorly explored links between sunspot activity and global climate.
The most oft-cited example of a shutdown in sun spots is the so-called Maunder Minimum, a 70-year period that began around 1645. Sun spots virtually vanished from the sun's surface. The decline coincided with a climate period known as the Little Ice Age, when temperatures fell substantially in various locations around the globe and different times during the time span.
A sun with no sun spots? What that could mean for Earth and its climate. - CSMonitor.com