The Sun is exploding, or something like that

I can’t wait – the Sun’s magnetic poles will flip in 2024.

Now, this isn’t the big deal (especially for us) that the Earth’s poles flipping. North Pole changing, South Pole changing to under the Arctic, Earth rolling over in orbit – those are life-changing , and for a lot of folks, life-ending events.  Not entirely unexpected, mind you – while not predictable given its 10,000-50,000,000 year intervals (last time was 780,000 years back), the  Sun, on the other hand, reverses its poles every 11 years. Guess it decides every 4000 days or so to identify as bottoms-up?

Electric currents in the sun are generated “by the flow of … hot, ionized gases,” and magnetic fields are the byproduct, according to NASA. Scientists refer to this process as a “dynamo.”

NASA explained that the dynamo “reorganizes itself” at the peak of each roughly decadelong (sic) solar cycle.

Stanford solar physicist Phil Scherrer described the process to NASA: “The sun’s polar magnetic fields weaken, go to zero and then emerge again with the opposite polarity. This is a regular part of the solar cycle.”

The sun’s magnetic pole reversals typically bring more intense solar storms, which can cause disruption to satellites, communication and GPS in space and disable parts of the electrical grid, according to Earth Sky.

In extreme cases, it can get interesting.

They described “the great geomagnetic storm” that happened in the summer of 1859 as the “most famous space weather event in the last two hundred years.” It is commonly referred to as “The Carrington Event.”

Northern lights are typically located between 60 degrees and 75 degrees latitude. However that summer, intense auroras were recorded below 50 degrees, and scientists correlate their intensity with the sun producing more solar storms.

Not only did the magnetic pole reversal create more vivid (and more southern) northern lights, it “wreaked havoc” on telegraph wires, as the South African National Space Agency described.

Specifically, Advances in Space Research wrote, “A significant portion of the world’s 200,000 km of telegraph lines were adversely affected,” were temporarily unusable and had “a real economic impact.”

In cases like in 1859, solar storms “can interrupt electrical power on Earth” and be “very dangerous to satellites and astronauts,” the Smithsonian reported.

Deseret.com

Probably a good time not to be in space, or relying on something critical like communications between nuclear powers during a sensitive incident. “Oops” is a bad word to try and translate.

Luckily, this is a normal event which usually is noted only by the science wonks who specialize in that sort of thing. And,  for once, it is NOT caused by human action. No glow-bull warming, climate change, wokeness, government incompetence, sin, or divine action involved.

If someone Chicken Littles on you, let ’em know the facts. Or not – it may be more fun that way.

Category: Global Warming, It's science!