WHY ARE WE SO AFRAID OF THE SUN?

MAYBE WE KNOW A LITTLE TOO MUCH OF WHAT IT'S DOING,
BUT NOT ENOUGH OF THE RIGHT INFORMATION?

SEE: THE SUN'S MAGNETIC FIELD FLIPS OVER - 3-4-2001

updated 12-5-07

An Erupting Solar Prominence from SOHO
Credit: SOHO-EIT Consortium, ESA, NASA

Explanation: Our Sun is still very active. In the year 2000, our Sun went though Solar Maximum, the time in its 11-year cycle where the most sunspots and explosive activities occur. Sunspots, the Solar Cycle, and solar prominences are all caused by the Sun's changing magnetic field. Pictured above is a solar prominence that erupted in 2002 July, throwing electrons and ions out into the Solar System. The above image was taken in the ultraviolet light emitted by a specific type of ionized helium, a common element on the Sun. Particularly hot areas appear in white, while relatively cool areas appear in red. Our Sun should gradually quiet down until Solar Minimum occurs, and the Sun is most quiet. No one can precisely predict when Solar Minimum will occur, although some signs indicate that it has started already!

 

 


PLANET X AND THE COMING EARTH CHANGES

FROM:
http://www.bushcountry.org/

This article reviews the extremely disturbing evidence that catastrophic Earth changes may be far more real, and above all, far more imminent than has been thought. We summarize the work of the Nobel physicist Alfven in establishing the electromagnetic component of any competent future paradigm of the solar system, and indeed, of cosmology in its broadest sense. This is based upon the crucial importance of plasma physics to astrophysics and cosmology – a fact which, for reasons that are discussed, has simply not been taken into account in the establishment orthodoxy of those sciences. Furthermore, this article summarizes James McCanney’s theoretical and practical research which leads to the conclusion that NASA is attempting to distract attention from the very real dangers of imminent Earth changes. The purpose of the article is to allow non-specialists, that is to say, the public at large, to make up their own mind on these dramatic matters.

INTRODUCTION

There is a sufficient quantity of evidence from a number of scientific and historical disciplines – particularly from the application of plasma physics to the study of the solar system, but also from the geological record of planetary catastrophes and magnetic polar shifts – to make it virtually inconceivable that there will not be major Earth changes within a matter of months or, at most, within a year or two.

In this article, the authors present the evidence for this assertion in such a way that people can make up their own minds as to whether they find it convincing or not. One immediate question that is likely to arise upon being confronted with this entire matter is this: given the very dramatic nature of the predicted Earth changes and extremely serious consequences for everyone and for humanity as a whole, how has it come about that so few people are aware of the dangers? The question is addressed in this article, and, in a nutshell, there are two major answers.

First, the evidence comes from a variety of different sources, none of which are very much at the forefront of people’s minds, so that without a major fanfare and wake-up call, the events could easily be upon us like the proverbial thief in the night. Second, the state of solar and cosmic physics is so fragmented and confused that it has been relatively easy for NASA and the official organs of the scientific-military establishment to create a smokescreen of disinformation. Their position is based on the notion that the truth would only create panic in the already roiled market, and that the statutes of the major scientific and technological institutions specifically forbid anything that would “alarm the public”.

To James McCanney and the Millennium Group for Truth in Science goes the credit for taking upon themselves the responsibility to inform us all of the purely scientific basis – in terms of an understanding of the physics of the solar system supported by the empirical data flow directly from spacecraft experiments – of the urgency and seriousness of the probability of earthshaking changes. Taken in conjunction with an examination of the geological record of previous planetary catastrophes, the evidence is overwhelming.


PART 1: THE SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: RECOGNIZING THE ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPONENT IN COSMIC PHYSICS

James M. McCanney's book, Planet X, Comets and Earth Changes
is sub-titled: a scientific treatise on the effects of a new large planet or comet arriving in our solar system, and expected earth weather and earth changes.

In his book McCanney makes a strong case for (1) the fact that the new electrodynamic paradigm in astronomy and astrophysics has already been established (2) that it is being vehemently opposed and denied by the scientific, academic establishment, including and especially NASA. (3) that there is overwhelming evidence for the reality of and existence of Aa new large planet or comet arriving in our solar system@ and that (4) NASA and a majority of the astronomic and astrophysical establishment, have a vested interest in completely denying all these points (5) that he has written his book in order to place before the public the truth as he sees it. (6) that the reason for the urgency is that the new Aintruder@ into the solar system is going to cause massive earth changes. The question, he states, is not whether the changes will occur, but when.

The authors of this review have written it in the spirit of point (5) above. That is to say, for them there is only one reason for writing the review. It is to pass on, as best they can, the evidence that McCanney presents, in order that readers may make up their own mind, and draw their own conclusions.

THE OLD PARADIGM

The old paradigm for understanding the origin and functioning of the solar system is overwhelmingly dominated by gravitational mechanics. It dates back to Newton when little was known about electricity. Similarly, the Kant-Laplace hypothesis concerning the nebular original of the solar system knows only gravitation; electro-magnetism plays no part in either the origin or functioning of the system. The same is true of the next major step in the history of scientific cosmology – Einstein’s 1917 “Cosmological Considerations Concerning the General theory of Relativity”.

In the 1940’s and 1950’s, Velikovsky championed the importance of electromagnetic phenomena in the solar system, both in his books, and in his correspondence and discussions with Einstein, in which Velikovsky insisted that “celestial mechanics …without taking into account the electromagnetic fields…is in conflict with the facts.” (1952)

At about the same time, this theme was taken up by the mathematical physicist Hannes Alfven, in great experimental and theoretical detail as described below.


HANNES ALFVEN

The nature and importance of “the fourth state of matter”, and specifically of matter in an electrically charged state, has a history that goes back to Crookes in the 19th century. Crookes realized that gasses through which an electrical current has been passed, themselves acquire a charge. In 1928, Langmuir coined the term ‘plasma’ to describe that mixture of gas, charged ions and electrons. The advent of plasma physics has created a revolution in science which has not yet been fully recognized. Indeed, partly by accident, and partly with cold deliberation, the reality of the plasma revolution in cosmology has been utterly played down.

The groundwork for the new electromagnetic dimension of cosmology, crystallized around a single outstanding figure - Professor Hannes Alfven and his team at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

1942 marked the beginning of Alfven’s application of hydrodynamic theory to plasma physics. He created the magnetohydrodynamic equations describing the motion of plasma as a fluid in electromagnetic fields. He drew attention to the fact that “Waves of electrons and ions are found not only in laboratory plasma but also in the atmospheric and solar plasmas.” Such waves are now known as Alfven waves, and for this work, Alfven shared the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics.

In 1946, Landau formulated the equations that describe the interaction between particles and waves in plasma, and about the same time Bohm used the term plasmons to refer to the concerted behavior of electrons in a plasma.

Let us take a brief look at the first two editions of Alfven’s Cosmical (sic) Electrodynamics, published by the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1950 and 1962 respectively. The second edition was co-authored by Falthammar, and the English of both editions has an interesting Scandinavian flavor. In 1954, Alfven published On the origin of the Solar System which, in 1975, was expanded as Structure and Evolutionary History of the Solar System, co-authored with Gustaf Arrhenius.

In the Preface (written in 1948) to the first edition of Cosmical Electrodynamics, Alfven spoke softly, but already sounded a big drum:

“Recent discoveries have revealed that electromagnetic phenomena are of greater importance in cosmic physics than used to be supposed. The time now seems to be ripe for an attempt to systematically trace the electromagnetic phenomena in the cosmos…”

In the General Survey, Alfven continued : “It seems very probable that electromagnetic phenomena will prove to be of great importance in cosmic physics. Electromagnetic phenomena are described by classical electrodynamics which, however, for a deeper understanding, must be combined with atomic physics. This combination is especially important for the phenomena occurring at the passage of current through gaseous conductors which are treated by the complex theory of ‘discharges’ in gas. No definite reason is known why it should not be possible to extrapolate the laboratory results in this field to cosmic physics.” (op.cit. p.1)


What emerges from a comparison of the two editions is the consolidation of the densely mathematical and cosmological arguments of the first, into the virtual certainty of the new paradigm in the second. As the authors point out in the preface to the second edition:

A The purpose of the first edition...was to draw attention to a field of research in an early state of development...to the fundamental principles of plasma physics and magneto-hydrodynamics...the magnetosphere...interplanetary space, to solar physics and to cosmic radiation. During the 15 years that have elapsed since the first edition was written, the subject has been developed by two of the largest research efforts of our time: thermonuclear research has increased our knowledge of magneto-hydrodynamics and plasmas, and... space research has been devoted to the exploration of the magneto-hydrodynamic conditions around the Earth@

Consequently, the second edition incorporates all the relevant findings from these new fields of research - plasma physics as developed in thermonuclear research etc., along with the early space data into the consolidation of the crucial importance of electrodynamics in astronomy and astrophysics.

Thus Alfven states “In cosmic physics, electromagnetic processes have recently attracted a rapidly increasing interest, and it is now generally realized that they are of fundamental importance…In the interior of the Earth there exist electromagnetic processes by which the earth’s general magnetic field is generated. In the ionosphere electric currents change the earth’s magnetic field, especially during magnetic storms, and also produce luminous phenomena, aurorae, in certain regions around the geomagnetic poles….In the magnetosphere, a complicated and rapidly varying system of currents [were] found by space research measurements. In certain regions (the radiation or Van Allen belts) there is also a flux of high-energy charged particles trapped in the magnetic field.” (Cosmological Electrodynamics, 2nd edition, p.1)


Furthermore, “The conditions in the ionosphere and the magnetosphere of the earth are influenced by the electromagnetic state in interplanetary space, which in turn is affected by the sun. There are a number of solar electromagnetic phenomena …sunspots, prominences, solar flares, etc. In other stars electromagnetic phenomena are of importance, most conspicuously in the magnetic variable stars.” (ibid., p.1.)

Alfven goes on to point out that it was not “until classical electrodynamics had been combined with hydrodynamics to form magneto-hydrodynamics, which further must be combined with plasma physics in order to allow a deeper understanding of electromagnetic phenomena in cosmic physics.” (ibid., p.2.)

The term ‘plasma’ refers to an ionized gas, an ensemble of neutral molecules, electrons, positive and often also negative ions, together with the energy released from the excited atoms. Alfven stresses the crucial importance of plasmas for cosmology. “ The properties of plasmas are of paramount interest in cosmic physics because most of the matter in the universe is in the plasma state. In the interior of stars, the gas is almost completely ionized. In the photosphere of the sun (and other stars) the degree of ionization is not very high, but above the photosphere, in the chromosphere and the corona, the ionization is …again almost 100%. Vast regions of interstellar space, particularly around the hot stars of early spectral type, are highly ionized…In the sun and interplanetary space, probably also in interstellar and intergalactic space, the plasma is penetrated by magnetic fields…As a consequence, the astrophysicist’s interest in plasma physics is mainly concentrated on magnetic plasmas.” (Alfven, op.cit. p. 134)


In their volume Structure and Evolution of the Solar System , (published in 1975 by Reidel), Alfven and Arrhenius continue to refine their astrophysical model. In their Introduction, they assert that
“Many of the ‘generally accepted’ theories [in this field] lack a valid foundation” (p.xv) One such theory “which cannot stand critical examination is the Laplacian concept of the formation of the sun and the solar system by non-hydromagnetic processes”. (p. xv)

They go on to criticize the fact that whereas “[I]n most other fields of cosmic physics it was realized already 25 years ago that electromagnetic processes have a dominating influence on the dynamics of cosmic gas clouds (plasmas), the majority of cosmogonic papers published today are still based on the assumption that such forces can be neglected” (p. xv) This is only marginally less true today than when it was stated by Alfven in 1975.

Alfven and Arhenius insist that “The processes involved in the formation of celestial bodies in our solar system requires us to use not only the methods of ordinary chemistry and ordinary celestial mechanics, but also those of plasma chemistry and magnetohydrodynamics …generally ignored or incorrectly applied…” (op.cit., p. 4)

Here is how Falthammar, a colleaugue of Alfven described the situation in 1988: “ It was widely believed that cosmic plasma would have negligible restistivity…From that it was [mistakenly] concluded that the electric field would be a secondary paramter, of little importance…Therefore, electric fields, and especially magnetic-field-aligned electric fields, which we now know to be of crucial immportance, were long disregarded. Even today, only a few space missions in the outer magnetosphere have included measurements of electric fields.”

“It is a sobering fact”, adds Falthammar, “that even after hundreds of satellites had circled the earth, the concept of our space environment was still fundamentally wrong in aspects as basic as the existence and role of electric fields…of the near Earth plasma itself.”

Leaving these earlier, but absolutely essential contributions to our understanding of the fundamental electromagnetic component of the solar system, which complement, and certainly do not exclude, the classical gravitation/inertia view of celestial dynamics, let us see how and where McCanney fits into the picture.


ENTER JAMES McCANNEY

McCanney took up the baton in 1979 and the early 1980's at the Physics and later the Math departments at Cornell. Given the retardation effect with respect to the electromagnetic component, that Alfen has made clear, it is easy to understand, yet utterly lamentable that McCanney was not given tenure at by either department. The other side of that coin is that McCanney was free to take up the role of “an independent scientist, not subject to the pressures of the scientific community, peer pressure or governmental non-disclosure agreements and funding.” (ibid. p. 32)

Cornell had certain advantages: the Library was part of the Library of Congress network, so if a book was in print, it was available. Even more importantly, it was a repository of data from NASA. As we read in the introduction to his book,

Armed with his existing theoretical work, and this incredible source of information and with the timing that coincided with the daily arrival of new data from the Voyager and other space craft, he [McCanney] was in a totally unique position to do what he has done@ (loc.cit. p.iii)

In other words, schematically speaking, McCanney took over where Alfven left off. Here is the core of McCanney’s position with respect to the electromagnetic part of the paradigm.


THE ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPONENT OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

(1) “Our solar system acts like a large electrical circuit… Our sun forms an electric capacitor (a separation of electrical charge as done by a simple DC battery in a flashlight)
(2) This solar capacitor has its negative pole at the surface of the sun, and also has a negative pole far out beyond the outer planets in the form of a sparse nebular cloud of dust and gasses.
(3) “An excess current of protons…continually generates and supports the solar capacitor by way of the ‘solar wind’ (literally a wind of such particles leaving the sun and blowing outwards into space)
(4) All stars and galactic nuclei, and even unlit small stars such as our ‘planets’ Jupiter and Saturn are producing …cosmic batteries around themselves.
(5) This is a natural by-product of the nuclear fusion process (the burning of nuclear fuel such as hydrogen, helium, etc.) in the atmospheres of these celestial objects.” (McCanney, op.cit. p.10)

(6) “The sun is powered at its atmospheric surface by an electrical fire of hydrogen and helium that we call ‘fusion’ that is constantly ignited by energetic lightning bolts in its turbulent atmosphere. It is the local electric field at the outer surface of the sun (the solar corona of high energy electrons) that hurls the vast solar flares out into the far reaches of the solar system. The positively charged protons are accelerated outwards, while the negatively charged electrons are retarded, thus causing what I have called the excess current of protons in the solar wind. The sun produces far more energy in the form of electrical energy than it does in the form of light energy.” (ibid. p.13)

(7) To give an idea of the stupendous magnitude of solar flares, they “release the force of 10 million volcanic eruptions in a matter of minutes. Furthermore, a single coronal mass ejection (CME) can carry “more than 10 billion tons of hot, electrically charged gas” [i.e.plasma] from the sun’s corona into space, “ a mass equivalent to that of 100,000 battleships” packing a punch “comparable to that of 100,000 hurricanes” and travelling at “between 1-5 million miles an hour.”

(8) “The power of CME lies in its ability to drive currents in the Earth’s magnetosphere” and “if the magnetic field carried by The CME has a southward orientation (opposite Earth’s northward - flowing magnetic field lines) the magnetosphere gets a major jolt … transferring …millions of amperes of electric current to the magnetosphere.” (Carlowicz and Lopez, op.cit. p.89) This can knock out powerlines and electric generators, and disrupt all forms of electronic communication.

(9) That is as far as the establishment position goes - and Carlowicz & Lopez represent the establishment viewpoint which McCanney denounces, because it deliberately fails to warn against the far greater dangers which the solar storms hold – namely their capacity, when triggered by comets or planets intruding into the solar system, to produce major earth changes such as polar shifts, flash freezing of continents, which certainly occurred in the past. That Carlowicz & Lopez do in fact mislead their readers is evident from their statement, on p.91, that “storms from the sun cannot harm life on the surface of the Earth.”

(10) “In the summer of 2001, at the recommendation of a panel of space and solar physicists, NASA announced the cancellation of the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics (ISTP) program. The Agency decided that ‘official co-ordination of the international missions was a scientific luxury it could no longer afford.’ NASA withdrew its support for the (solar) Wind mission, and for participation in Japan’s Geotail mission. Funding for some of the key elements of the ISTP success story – the theory and modeling programs, the data centers, the ground-based observatories – was almost entirely cut off.” Why? Because the co-ordination of the data from all of those sources would have let the cat out of the bag and made it a lot more difficult to sustain the two illusions that (1) electromagnetism plays a negligible part in solar physics and (2) there is no real, imminent threat of major catastrophic Earth changes.


WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CELESTIAL OBJECT ENTERS THE ELECTRIC FIELD OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM

When celestial body such as an asteroid, a comet or a planet enters the solar capacitor “it will cause a localized and then more extended electrical discharge of the capacitor. This much like the backyard bug killer or ‘zapper’ that discharges when a bug flies between the high voltage screens.” (p.14)

What happens next is that “the increased electrical activity imparted to the solar atmosphere ignites a higher level of nuclear fusion causing the sun to become excited above its normal levels and may ignite small to very large solar flares. Small comets have many times been observed to directly cause solar flares as they pass near the sun.” (ibid., p.16)

“ Small comets generally discharge only the small localized regions of the solar capacitor, whereas the very large ones can discharge up to and including the entire capacitor…These are the ones (such as the anticipated Planet-X) which are growing much larger and pose a serious threat to the existing planets including Earth.” (p.12)

Now here is the crux of the matter: “The sun is currently at levels never experienced before and it is increasing to record levels of activity every day. We were supposed to have peaked in the year 2000 with the ‘solar maximum’…[We are currently over two years beyond that, and there is no end to the increases in sight. It definitely indicates that the sun is currently interacting with a large intrusion into the solar capacitor.” (p.21)

The intruder is capable of “action at a distance” in the following manner. “The comet would discharge to the solar surface causing a significant solar flare that could blow a huge wall of high energy protons our way, causing an alteration of [Earth’s] magnetic field structure [which under ordinary circumstances, acts as a protective shield] and cause electrical and cyclonic storms at the surface of the earth.” (pp.21-22) This in turn could trigger massive Earth changes of the kind that are known to have already occurred in the geological record.


PLANET-X

“Earth has been subjected to a close encounter by at least one massive new comet becoming a planet in the time frame of no more than 10,000 years ago. The time frame that clearly makes] sense for the last event is approximately 3,500 years ago, the time we see a dramatic transition between ‘pre-history’ and the digging of ‘modern man’ out of the devastation. There is no longer any other possible scenario and modern science is impeding progress each day that it holds the reins of power and prevents this reality from blossoming forth.” (op. cit., p.100)

It was Velikovsky who fifty years ago pioneered the above hypothesis and McCanney has a special tribute to Immanuel Velikovsky in which McCanney insists on the value of Velikovsky’s insight: says McCanney: “NASA scientists have been repeating…for 25 years that ‘Velikovsky has been proven wrong.’ It is time to set the record straight. It was NASA that was [and is still] wrong. Velikovsky single-handedly did more for the advancement of true science than all of the NASA scientists in the last 3 decades combined.” (p. 102)

The proceedings of the Second IEEE International Workshop (published in Astrophysics and Space Science Vol. 227, 1995, and reprinted in book form the same year by Kluwer Academic Publishers as Plasma Astrophysics and Cosmology ed. Peratt, A.L.) fully support the immense importance of electromagnetism in the practical and theoretical study of cosmology. The most obvious reason for this importance lies in the fact that 99% of the matter in the universe is in the form of plasma –which is composed, precisely, of electromagnetically charged gas, ions and electrons.


McCanney goes on to assert that, on the basis of the electromagnetic theory of solar system and planetary formation, the solar system was not born at a single point in time. It began with the Sun and Jupiter. All the other planets were integrated into the solar system by capture. They began as comets in elliptical orbit, but as they accreted more and more debris by virtue of their electrical charge and attraction, they slowed down and their orbits settled into circular motion around the sun.

“We clearly know today that the pre-planet comet [that became Venus] was CAPTURED by Jupiter, a process that is very common, and well understood mathematically, and has been observed as every one of the major planets…have associated families of comets that were captured. …Venus is a hot new planet.” (p.101)

A similar process of capture is happening with Planet X. The perturbations of the solar corona bear witness to its entry into the solar system. The question is not whether it is there or not, the question is when will its presence cause major earth changes.

“The sun is currently at levels never experienced before, and it is increasing to record levels of activity every day…It definitely indicates that the sun is currently interacting with a large intrusion into the solar system” (op.cit.p.21)

However, McCanney states that the timing of the earth changes cannot be accurately predicted because “even if a large new object were known about today with exact location and orbital information, its orbit will change on a daily basis and the true orbit and location will elude prediction…although rough estimates can be made if an actual candidate is identified.” (McCanney, op.cit., p. xii)


NASA AND THE ASTRONOMY/ASTROPHYSICAL ESTABLISHMENT

It is a major contention of McCanney’s that NASA and the academic astronomy and astrophysical establishment have been, and still are, engaged, not only in peddling the antiquated pre-electrical paradigm of celestial functioning, but also that they are engaged in a massive cover-up. He says, therefore, “ It is imperative that the public turn to the truth of what is really going on, and force NASA to release any data regarding new planets or other large objects.”

However, McCanney fears that the opposite is going to happen: “NASA will work harder and harder to put their name, and their incorrect and borrowed information (mixed with their outdated and incorrect theories) in the public eye through news releases, TV and weather specials and newspaper articles.” (McCanney, op.cit. p. xii)

“It is essential that the public recognize them for who they are and what they are. It is also important that the public understand the correct information so they’re not lead down the wrong path by what appear to be well-educated scientists who stand behind their Ph.D.’s
and government funding”

“It is safe to say that the NASA scientists are in complete denial. They hide behind a news release system in which no one can ask them questions, they hide behind their own referee system in which they referee their own articles, or, as in the case of automatic publication in SCIENCE or NATURE journals, articles are not refereed at all.” (p.8)

What really is at stake, according to McCanney, is that “for every day that NASA sits back, says nothing and collects an ill-gotten paycheck, it is…another day that the human civilization on this planet goes unprepared for a critical time of survival as a species.” (p.9)

McCanney brings before the bar of public opinion the following statements: “NASA was caught lying and producing doctored photos to prove that the comet Hale-Bopp did not have a companion…NASA began blatantly hiding data from many space investigating facilites including the Hubble Space Telescope, the SOHO solar observatory…NASA developed public relations offices whose …function was to…fend off problematic people like myself with planned disinformation campaigns.” (McCanney, p.44)

“The NASA news release system is strict and comes only from designated NASA news points in Goddard Space Center, and Jet Propulsion Labs. Individual scientists are under strict non-disclosure agreements…These scientists …cannot discuss or admit publicly any event that might cause ‘public alarm’. That is why the data regarding a new arrival like Planet X will not be allowed from the halls of NASA. They are under strict contract NOT to tell the public.” (McCanney, op.cit. p.49)

“ [It] is clear…that NASA has observed such objects [as Planet X] and is hiding the data from the public.” (p.32) Similarly: “There is clear evidence that NASA is now hiding data that would prove that there is another massive object inbound into the solar system with potential for devastating effects on planet Earth.” (p. 101)


PART 2:

The fallacy of materialism is its inability to comprehend the primacy of consciousness and of light.The critical importance of electricity and magnetism in cosmology can be approached from another angle. Electromagnetic force is the cosmic medium that actually links human, planetary, solar, and galactic systems. The universe is not a mechanical contraption of inert matter; it is a vital organic, conscious whole, and electromagnetism is the medium by which information is exchanged between the various members of that totality.

The bio-electric “subtle bodies” of humanity, the core of planet earth, its electromagnetic fields, the heliocosm (or solar field), and the galactic center (the Great Central Sun or the “Sun behind the Sun”) are linked by a two-way, top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top cosmic walkie-talkie, electromagnetic information system. This is what gives the cosmos its unity. Animated by conscious beings, there is a cosmic code that harmonizes and synchronizes the various different vibratory frequencies that characterize each of the planetary, solar, galactic and nebular sub-systems. That code is electromagnetic; its essence is light. Light, not matter is primary. Consciousness is not material, though it may be embodied. Light and consciousness are similar, and primary.

Matter is secondary; consciousness is electromagnetic and is primary. This integral, holistic understanding of the universe is a far cry from the crude, one-dimensional, dangerous, dead and deadly paradigm of scientific materialism to which the military-industrial-scientific complex still clings, and of which NASA and its space programs is an essential part.

The bio-electric “subtle bodies” of humanity, the core of planet earth, its electromagnetic fields, the heliocosm (or solar field), and the galactic center (the Great Central Sun or the “Sun behind the Sun”) are linked by a two-way, top-to-bottom the beginning was Light. This is not the antiquated claim of an anthropomorphic religion; it is the basic realization of the new spiritual, scientific, holographic and electromagnetic paradigm of the universe.


Of this paradigm, Arguelles points out that it “brings into focus a world of coherence and unity, a resonant matrix…of information transmission.” Underlying this cosmic loom is “the principle of harmonic resonance” (op.cit., p.54). Resonance has to do with the vibratatory frequencies of any system that produces waves - sound waves or electromagnetic waves, any kind of waves. Harmonic resonance means the exchange of vibration, harmonizing or synchronizing, and sometimes dissonant, between of two or more vibrating systems, whether these are tuning forks, violin strings, pendulums, or planets.

It was the Maya, in South America, who pioneered this understanding of the order underlying the cosmos, in which mind or consciousness is primary and in which “there is nothing without feeling” and “the field of reality is saturated with purpose.” (ibid. p.56) The purpose of the continuous exchange of information between the galactic center and the other members of the galaxy “is the superior coordination of the member organisms, the star systems.” This entails the capacity of ‘local intelligence’ i.e. the planetary mind or field of consciousness being able to “perceive the whole and align itself accordingly” and to extend this process of alignment to other member systems. “The galactic game is superior intelligent harmonization” through which “the local intelligence is taught or shown how it works, in such a manner that it comes to its own conclusions” without coercion. (ibid., pp.56-7)

What do we know of the solar or planetary cycles? “The solar system is a self-contained organism whose subtle sheath or morphic field is called the heliocosm. Every 11.3 years the heliocosm pulses outward and then for another 11.3 years it pulses inward. These 11.3 inhalation-exhalation cycles are referred to as the heliopause, whose total movement thus occurs over a period of some 23 years…” (ibid., p.118)

In parallel with this heliopause cycle there is a “binary sunspot” movement in which “two ‘spots’ –one negative, the other positive pulse inward from positions 30 degrees north and south of the solar equator. Approximately every 11.3 years the two spots meet at the equator, reverse polarity, and begin the process again at 30 dgrees north and south of the solar equator…The sunspots’ activity causes great disturbance of the Earth’s radio waves and the bio-electromagnetic
field in general.” (118)

“The sun is the central coordinating intelligence in the solar field. The planets represent harmonic gyroscopes whose purpose it is to maintain the resonant frequency represented by the orbit which the planet holds.” (119)


“Though the heliocosm, the total solar body, is a self-regulatory system, it is at the same time a subsystem within the larger galactic field. Thus its inhalation consists of [receiving] cosmic forces –galactic frequencies- monitored either directly from the galactic core and/or via other intelligent star systems. Its exhalation [or transmission] represents transmuted streams of energy/information returned back to the galactic core [known to the Maya as Hunab Ku, and to contemporary investigation as ‘ the Great Central Sun’ or ‘the Sun behind the Sun’].”(ibid., p.119)

How does the planet Earth receive these electromagnetic impulses? “The resonance of the earth functions like the oscillations of a giant electromagnetic battery. The key features of this battery are the two shells of the ionosphere, the lower lunar and the upper solar shell, respectively 60 and 70 miles above the terrestrial floor of the electromagnetic ocean. It is the currents of the ionosphere in direct resonance with the solar and lunar fields that moderate the wind and atmospheric conditions of the lowest layers of the electromagnetic ocean. Oscillating at approximately 7.8 cycles per second, the ionosphere is in resonance with the human brain, which –when oscillating at 7.8 cycles per second –reflects a condition of ‘samadhi’, or [profound] meditational absorption. This common neural-ionospheric frequency is a prime key [to the full development of the Light Body of the Earth and of individual human beings].” [op.cit. p.186]

“Far beyond the ionosphere lie the next two components of the Earth’s electromagnetic battery, the radiation belts – the lower, positively charged, the upper, negatively charged electron solar belt. It is these belts, like cellular membranes, that mediate the larger electromagnetic currents connecting the earth to the Sun and to the other systems of the galactic hub..." [ibid. p.186]

The potential for the harmonizing of the galactic, solar, and planetary vibratory rates with the human is evident in the common neural and ionospheric frequency of 7.8 cycles. This is not only the frequency of enlightenment, but it also augurs the possibility of a further transformation – the generating of the Light Body, both of individual human beings, of humanity as a whole, and of the planet.


But that is another whole chapter in the story. Here, I have been concerned to show why the electromagnetic paradigm is of such crucial importance to the evolution of humanity. It follows that the forces who wish to continue to exploit humanity by reducing everything to materiality, also wish to stunt that evolution, oppose the paradigm, and do all they can to pretend it doesn’t exist, and that Planet X doesn’t exist, and that the Earth changes that it may cause are pure fiction.

PART 3: PLANET-X OBSERVED

Here we shall be following the evidence assembled and presented by Hazelwood in his account of the entire Planet-X scenario.

In January 1981, several daily newspapers carried a report that Dr. Richard Harrington and his colleague, Dr. Thomas Van Flandern, of the US Naval Observatory, had told a meeting of the American Astronomical Society that “irregularities in the orbit of Pluto indicated that the solar system contained a 10th planet.” A similar story was run by the New York Times on June 19, 1982.

“One year later, in 1983, the newly launched IRAS (Infrared Astronomical Satellite) quickly found Planet-X: “A heavenly body as large as Jupiter and part of this solar system has been found in the direction of the constellation of Orion by an orbiting telescope” –wrote the Washington Post. “In August 1988, a report by Harrington calculated that its mass is probably 4 times that of Earth.” In 1992, Harrington and Van Flandern published their findings and their conclusion that there is an ‘intruder’ planet. The search was narrowed down to the southern skies, below the ecliptic.

Planet-X is likely to be a brown dwarf whose orbit takes it back and forth between our Sun and our Sun’s twin. Planet-X has an orbit which takes 3660 years. “When a planet’s orbit is between two suns, instead of round one, that orbit is a bit peculiar. It spends 99.99% of its time slowly going away from one of the suns…to reach the half-way point. Then…the gravity of the sun it’s approaching takes over, and in a relative flash it travels the other half of its journey. Planet-X reached the halfway point sometime in 2000. It only takes about 3 years to travel the rest of the distance…It’ll be cooking with its greatest speed by the time it passes. Once it crosses Pluto’s orbit, it will only take 90 days to pass right between Earth and the Sun.” The most likely date for its passage and effect on planet Earth is 2003. In 1982, even NASA, momentarily officially recognized the existence of Planet-X:


“An object is really there beyond the outermost planets.” Today, NASA is trying to sweep the danger under the carpet, claiming that it is nothing more than a large asteroid. But, whereas until early 2001, only the largest telescopes could have seen Planet-X, now even small to mid-level observatories are sighting it. On the 4th of April 2001, the Lowell Observatory reported its magnitude and co-ordinates.

POLE SHIFT ASSOCIATED WITH THE LAST ICE AGE

“The last ice-age pole shift is…proof that we had an encounter with a large celestial body at that time” (McCanney, op.cit. p.93) “The old ‘true’ north pole had been just north of the state of Wisconsin. Russian Siberia had a tropical climate with rain forests, and mastodons. In a single night of total destruction, those areas were blown apart by incredible winds and storms, and the pole shifted an estimated 30 to 40 degrees. Overnight the mastodon herds were flash frozen and buried in what is now the Siberian tundra, with the fresh tropical plants still in their throats. The meat was so well preserved that it was used as food (and even sold on the commercial markets) during the building of the trans-Siberian railway. Even a single day of exposure to a warm temperature would have rendered this meat rancid and useless. The Earth Change was so rapid and complete that this did not happen. The meat was as fresh as the day it froze, thousands of years earlier” About 3600 years ago, which is precisely the period of the most recent visit of Planet-X before the present time.

In conclusion, the authors of the present paper review will be satisfied if it helps draw wider attention to McCanney’s work in such a way that readers will want to make up their own mind regarding the significance and dramatic implications of McCanney’s book.

George Gross
James Grover


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 James M. McCanney Planet X, Comets and Earth Changes ( JMc Canney Science Press) Available through his website www.jmccanneyscience.com

Eliezer & Eliezer (20002) The Fourth State of Matter : an Introduction to Plasma Science ( IOP Publishing,) 2nd Edition, p.160

Falthammar, C-G.(1988), Astrophysical Significance of observations and Experiments in the earth’s Magnetosphere” Dept. of Plasma Physics, Royal Inst. Of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. (p.5)

ibid., p.6

Carlowiicz and Lopez (2002) Storms from the Sun (National Academy Press) p.13
ibid. p.189

Arguelles, J. (1987) The Mayan Factor: Path beyond Technology (Bear & Co, N.M.)

TAKEN FROM: http://www.bushcountry.org/

SEE:  YELLOWSTONE GETTING READY TO BLOW

The central body of our Solar System, the Sun is an average sized star of the YELLOW DWARF variety that formed roughly 4.6 BILLION years ago at the center of an enormous swirling gas cloud that became the Solar System.

The concentration of pressure at the center of this swirling cloud of (mostly) hydrogen triggered a nuclear fusion reaction and the star we know as the Sun was born. In this fusion reaction, typical of all stars, four nuclei of hydrogen atoms (the simplest element), fused to form a single helium (the second simplest element) having two protons) nuclei. The resulting reaction released a tremendous amount of energy.

It is theorized that in about 5 BILLION YEARS, as its hydrogen becomes depleted, the Sun will expand from its present status of yellow dwarf star to become a red giant, with a diameter greater than the orbit of Venus. According to this generally accepted theory, the Sun will then collapse back to a white dwarf type star (smaller than its present size) and gradually become a burnt ember which would then be ironically referred to as a black dwarf.

The gravitational force of the Sun literally defines the Solar System and controls the orbital paths of the other bodies within it. The Sun is also the source of most of the heat in the Solar System and thus it provides the warmth that makes life possible on at least one of the bodies in the Solar System.

The temperature of the Sun is estimated at roughly 20 million degrees centigrade, and the Sun's surface temperature averages 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit or approximately 6000 degrees Kelvin.

The energy radiated from the Sun is called solar radiation, which (as measured in wavelengths from the longest to the shortest) can be simplified as including:

(a) radio waves
(b) microwaves
(c) infrared radiation (perceived on earth as heat)
(d) the visible light spectrum
(e) ultraviolet radiation
(f) x-rays
(g) gamma rays

So powerful is solar radiation that its ultra-violet wavelengths can burn (or tan) human skin on Earth, and direct light from the visible spectrum can do permanent damage to the human eye.

The sun, being a gaseous sphere, has no solid surface, nor could any molecular solid exist at such incredible temperatures. The Sun does, however, have a nearly opaque surface. . . a sea of gaseous firestorms known as the photosphere.

The firestorms that comprise the photosphere are roughly 600 miles in diameter and appear as granules in the vastness of the Sun. Their apparent opacity is due to the presence of negative hydrogen ions. During the approximate eight-minute lifespan of the granule, hot gas rises out of the center, pushing cooler gases aside and into the arrow darker and cooler spaces between granules. Amid the typical granules, there are 'supergranules' with diameters of up to 18,000 miles and lifespans of up to 24 hours.

Other 'surface features' on the photosphere are 'solar flares' and 'sunspots'.  Solar flares are violent surface eruptions that explode from the photosphere with the energy of 10 million hydrogen bombs, sending forth a stream of solar radiation that can disrupt radio signals on the Earth.

It may take several hours or even days for an individual flare to build up, but the actual flare happens in a matter of minutes when the energy is released. The resulting shockwaves travel outward across the photosphere and up into the chromosphere and corona for hundreds of thousands of miles at speeds on the order of three million mph.

The study of solar flares and particles released is necessary not only because of its effect on the Earth but because of the negative effect on spacecraft and astronauts beyond Earth's atmosphere. The charged particles released in the flares are attracted by the Earth's magnetic field and spiral in at the north and south magnetic poles, causing the Aurora Borealis in the Earth's atmosphere.

Sunspots were first discovered by the Chinese 2,000 years ago and were first studied systematically by Italian astronomer Galileo (1564-1642) in the seventeenth century. It was his discovery that led our knowledge of the sun's rotation and that there is a 11 year cycle that seems to have an effect on the weather on Earth.  When there are fewer sun spots on the sun, the Earth's weather is colder. Sunspots vary in size and shape, and can be up to 40,000 miles across. It takes a week to 10 days for a sun spot to develop and about two weeks to decay They usually occur in groups.

DATA FOR THE SUN

Taken from: 'The Atlas of the Solar System' by Bill Yenne (1990)

Diameter = 870,331.25 miles
(1,3392,530 km)
Mass = 4.3959 x 10 30 lb (1.9891 x 10 30 kg)
Rotational period
of equator = 26.8 Earth Days
Rotational Period
of latitude 30 degrees: 28.2 Earth days
at latitude 50 degrees: 30.8 Earth Days of latitude 75 degrees: 31.8 Earth days
Surface Temperature: 10,430 degrees F Interior temperature: 26,999,540 degrees F
Major photosphere components
Hydrogen (73.46%) Neon (.12%)
Helium (24.85%) Nitrogen (.09%)
Oxygen (.77%) Silicon (.07%)
Carbon (.29%) Magnesium (.05%)
Iron (.16%) Sulphur (.04%)

Another source, The Hawaian Astronomical Society  gives the percentages thus:

Principal chemistry

  Hydrogen       92.1%      Helium       7.8%
  Oxygen     0.061%     Carbon     0.030%  
  Nitrogen     0.0084%     Neon     0.0076%  
  Iron     0.0037%        Silicon   0.0031%   
  Magnesium     0.0024%   Sulfur   0.0015%
  All others     0.0015%

Above the photosphere there is a thinner, more visually transparent layer known as the chromosphere. This layer cannot be measured exactly, but about 6,000 miles thick. The common feature of this layer are 'spicules' which are long thin fingers of luminous gas which appear like a vast field of fiery grass growing up from the photosphere. They are evenly distributed all over the sun, but most prominently near sun spots.

'Fibrils' are horizontal wisps of gas that drift through the chromosphere. The are similar to spicules , but last about twice as long.

'Prominences' are gigantiic luminous plumes of gas that appear like tongues of flame. The leap up sometimes as far as 100,000 miles.

Beyond the chromosphere is the corona, a vast field of hydrogen particles that extends for millions of miles into space. The corona is so sparse, it is not visible against the glare of the Sun except during total eclipses. . . when the Moon gets between the Earth and the Sun. The corona is most prominent at the Sun's equator and there are holes in the polar regions, but when the sun is very active, the corona surrounds the entire Sun.

The mystery of the sun is that the corona is hotter than the photosphere. The law of thermodynamics holds that heat cannot be conducted from the cooler to the warmer. It has been suggested that it is the dynamics of the solar magnetic fields and acoustic energy may be the answer to the mystery.

The coronal flares which are called transients are blast waves, and are giant loops of corona material, that reach speeds of more than a million mph, and are released out into the Solar system. The Solar wind carries these transient energies to distances farther than the Earth's orbit. They have 10 times the energy as the flares which trigger them.

The Solar wind is constant and has gusts from 450,000 mph to 2 million mph, and continues out into space. The solar wind spirals out from the sun, rotating with the sun until it reaches a distance of approximately 100 million miles (roughly 1 AU). From that point it travels outward with less interference from the Sun's magnetic field.

About 3000 tons of subatomic particles are blown outward from the Sun in the solar wind every hour. At that rate, it would take about 200,000 BILLION years for the Sun's entire mass to be dissipated by the solar wind.

In 1998 there was a new discovery. Observers have noted what appear to be brief, localised bright patches within these supergranular patterns. These flashes, now known as blinkers, are small explosions in the Suns atmosphere, each of them about the size of the Earth. Although these blinkers appear to be rather insignificant since they are small and emit only one millionth the energy of a solar flare, they are distributed over the entire Sun and are visible for several minutes. They seem to be the visible representation of a transient process which is basic to the way the solar atmosphere works.

THE SOLAR AND HELIOSPHERIC OBSERVATORY

SOHO was launched on December 2, 1995, and placed in orbit around the Sun at a position between the Earth and Sun on February 14, 1996. Scientific operations began in April 1996. Since then, RAL's CDS instrument has been used by 36 institutes from 12 countries and has carried out 50,000 observations.

Excerpts from The Dark Side of the Solar Flare Myth -D. V. Reames

CMEs came late to the domain of known solar eruptive phenomena, where flares stood alone for over 100 years. CMEs can be massive objects; spanning 120° in solar latitude or longitude, they can involve 10^16 g of gas that is suddenly ejected at speeds up to 2000 km/s with a kinetic energy of >10^32 ergs, all directed outward into interplanetary space. Thousands of CMEs have now been observed by the Skylab, SMM, SOLWIND and Mauna Loa coronagraphs and the Helios photometers. Their properties and their relationship with flares have been extensively reviewed [Kahler 1992; Hundhausen 1995; Webb and Howard 1994; Webb 1995]. Flares are observed with no associated CMEs, and conversely; the two phenomena are not causally related. At solar maximum the magnetic equator of the Sun, called the streamer belt or heliospheric current sheet, is highly inclined to the ecliptic so it passes near the solar poles. At this time CMEs are distributed around the streamer belt at all heliographic latitudes while classical H-alpha flares only occur in a limited latitude band.

The motivation to distinguish flares and CMEs goes far beyond semantics. The term "flare" evokes the idea of limited spatial and temporal extent. We will see that this alone causes serious errors when flares and CMEs are not distinguished. Like others, I once believed that high-energy particles were only accelerated in point-source flares. Thus, I speak as former disciple (and victim) of the flare myth. "Flares" also imply chromospheric and coronal heating and are classically observed by photons from a hot gas. The 100-year history of flare observations has produced a significant photon bias that tends to discount interplanetary observations of plasma processes that are not visible in photons.

Interplanetary phenomena near Earth can provide information on their own solar origin. In some cases this information is internal; for example, ionization states of ions carry information on the temperature of the source plasma. More often it involves extensive comparisons between local phenomena and radio, X-ray, gamma-ray and CME observations in the related solar events. All interplanetary shocks energetic enough to be seen as type II radio bursts, for example, are found to have associated CMEs [Cane, Sheeley and Howard 1987]. The interplanetary properties of CMEs have been identified and their effect on the magnetosphere has been studied directly [see Gosling 1993]. Energetic particle observations identified two populations, clearly distinguished by their abundances, ionization states, and time and longitude distributions. One population comes from impulsive flares and the other, involving the largest, most energetic events, comes from CME-driven shocks [Reames 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995]. Gosling [1993, 1994] basically combined the published and generally-accepted results from a variety of interplanetary observations into "The flare myth." Most in the interplanetary community were well aware that CMEs, not flares, cause the dominant near-Earth phenomena of relevance to solar-terrestrial studies. Except for the "sudden ionospheric disturbances" caused directly by photons, flares are not "geo-effective."

In the case of CMEs, a quiescent prominence 300,000 km in length can become magnetically unstable and be launched like a giant helium balloon on time scales of tens of minutes to hours

One of the difficulties in the present controversy is that flares and CMEs often occur together. However, one does not cause the other. Even when flares and CMEs do occur together, there is little relationship between their positions or timing and often there is more energy in the CME than in the associated flare [Kahler 1992]. Kahler [1982] coined the term "big flare syndrome" to point out that, despite appearances, not all processes occurring in conjunction with big flares are causally related to the flare or to each other, even when well correlated. Our greatest progress in establishing causal relationships has come from the observation of small impulsive flares without CMEs and from erupting-filament events which are CMEs without impulsive flares [Kahler 1992].

Flares last for hours, at most, but large SEP events last for days. Flares are also confined to a few degrees on the Sun but large SEP events (and interplanetary shocks) are seen over a span of ~180°, sometimes more. Only recently have we understood that the shocks from CMEs cross field lines to accelerate the particles locally over vast regions of space and for long intervals of time in the largest SEP events [see Reames 1993, 1994, 1995].

The importance of CME shocks in large SEP events is now generally recognized; yet the consequences of the old flare paradigm still linger. There are still attempts to derive diffusive interplanetary scattering parameters from particle time profiles without considering the moving, evolving shock source. 3He-rich events, with impulsive injection, tell us the ambient parallel scattering mean free path is long (~1 AU), yet in shocks it becomes quite short (~10^-3 AU) because of waves generated by the accelerated particles themselves. Neglect of this wave generation leads to the erroneous conclusion that shock acceleration is "too slow." As a CME comes out from the Sun to 1 AU, an observer's connection point to the shock swings through ~50° or more in longitude, sampling a large gradient in shock strength. Also, the speed at the nose of the shock can slow by a factor of ~2 or 3 between the Sun and the Earth. This evolution is largely ignored in the naive models we have inherited from the flare myth.

Distinguishing events as "impulsive flares" and "eruptive flares" does not end the confusion since the common perception of a "flare" is something that will easily fit in an active region. Some models of CMEs rising above "eruptive flares" begin with low-lying loops emerging from a flat solar surface. Such models do not describe real CMEs where pre-existing magnetic structures typically arch through angles of ~45° from one active region to another. These large structures are much less likely to lead to significant coronal or chromospheric heating in producing CMEs. These modelers are being misled by the flare myth just as others have been; they consider only initial conditions where flares are likely to accompany CMEs.

. Large SEP events have a 96% correlation with CMEs [Kahler et al. 1984] but a key piece of evidence for shock acceleration is the ionization state of elements such as Fe. Near 1 MeV/amu, QFe=14.1±0.2 [Luhn et al. 1985, 1987] indicates that the source plasma has a temperature ~2 MK, similar to the temperature of the corona and to the ionization states seen in the solar wind. The source cannot involve heated (>10 MK) plasma that exists in flares or reconnection sites. Only 3He-rich events show ionization states (e.g. QFe=20.5±1.2) compatible with a hot source. Recent measurements of Fe at 200-600 MeV/amu in large SEP events show ionization states [Tylka et al. 1995] in agreement with those of Luhn et al. [1985]. Ionization state measurements by 4 experiments on 3 different spacecraft now support the idea of shock acceleration of ambient, unheated coronal and solar-wind plasma.

Kahler [1994] has studied the solar injection intensities of protons up to 25 GeV as a function of the altitude of the leading edge of the CME. The intensities reach maximum only after the CME is beyond ~10 solar radii, outside the corona. In the 1989 September 29 event the leading edge of the CME was observed [Kahler 1994] to have a speed of over 1800 km/s. This was also one of the events where Fe was observed to have coronal charge states at 200-600 MeV/amu. In this event the shock came across the high corona from a source behind the west limb to accelerate ambient protons to energies as high as 25 GeV and ambient Fe as high as 600 MeV/amu at the base of the field line connected to Earth. The relativistic Fe ions must be accelerated in the tenuous high corona beyond ~2 solar radii to avoid being stripped of their orbital electrons. "

D. V. Reames -NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD

The SOHO Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer

Solar Glossary

THE SOLAR WIND

There are two types of solar wind flow: quasi-stationary and transient (see, for example, the review by Neugebauer, 1991). There are at least two sources of quasi-stationary solar wind: fast flows from coronal holes (CH) and slow "interstream" (IS) flows, some or all of which originate in or near visible structures called coronal streamers. Coronal holes are regions of the solar corona with open or unipolar magnetic fields and anomalously low density which appear dark in x-ray images of the Sun. Coronal streamers, on the other hand, are bright, dense structures extending well out into the corona. The "quiet corona" between the holes and the streamers may also lead to slow, interstream flow; alternatively, the entire quasi-stationary solar wind may originate only in coronal holes and streamers whose flows expand laterally to fill all solar latitudes and longitudes.

Transient flows of the solar wind are produced by solar eruptions referred to as coronal mass ejections (CME). CMEs are associated with the disruption of closed magnetic field lines above the solar surface. Depending on the energy released in the eruption, the solar wind from a CME can have either low or high speed. The frequency of occurrence of CMEs varies in concert with the solar activity cycle.

Solar Wind Properties

SPACE WEATHER - EFFECT ON EARTH

The response of our space environment to the constantly changing Sun is known as "Space Weather". Most of the time space weather is of little concern in our everyday lives. However, when the space environment is disturbed by the variable outputs of the Sun, technologies that we depend on both in orbit and on the ground can be affected. Some of the most dramatic space weather effects occur in association with eruptions of material from the solar atmosphere into interplanetary space. Thus, our space weather is a consequence of the behavior of the Sun, the nature of Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere, and our location in the solar system.

The increasing deployment of radiation-, current-, and field-sensitive technological systems over the last few decades and the increasing presence of complex systems in space combine to make society more vulnerable to solar-terrestrial disturbances. This has been emphasized by the large number of problems associated with the severe magnetic storms between 1989 and 1991 as the 11-year solar activity cycle peaked.

We are now approaching a new solar maximum. The last solar minimum was reached sometime late 1996 and we have just started on cycle 23. An increasing number of active regions from the new cycle have started to appear and the number of flares and CMEs will continue to increase the next few years, as will the strength of the events.

One important issue for the next solar maximum is that our society is much more sensitive to space weather activity today compared to the last solar maximum in 1991. This could be a major concern for the coming solar maximum in 2000-2001.

WHAT CAN HAPPEN DURING SOLAR MAXIMUM?

Satellite Drag

The solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) output is the primary factor contributing to the decay of satellite and space debris orbits due to frictional interaction with the upper atmosphere ("drag"). As the solar EUV emission increases with solar activity, its absorption heats the upper atmosphere and increases the densities of atoms and molecules at a satellite's altitude. Proxies such as the radio emission at 10.7 cm are currently used by satellite operators in commercial enterprises and national agencies to analyze and predict changes in the upper atmosphere and the resulting orbital evolution. These proxies have not proven very effective in making accurate predictions, owing to additional increases in satellite drag from flare and auroral zone heating of the atmosphere.

Orbital decay can cause loss of contact and special problems for space facilities such as the Hubble Space Telescope, which will require "boosts" to maintain altitude; it can also result in aborted missions. In addition, the ever-increasing collection of space debris1 that must be tracked can be redistributed by increased drag. Although understanding of the sources of solar EUV radiation has improved dramatically since the last solar maximum, the new models of EUV behavior are based on observations that have not been tested through a solar maximum, when the number and intensity of transient contributions greatly increase.2 The contribution of variable auroral zone heating to drag is similarly difficult to characterize. Meanwhile, the demand for information on satellite drag grows with each passing solar cycle, driven by the increased use of space-based communications and navigation systems and the necessity of long-term planning for spacecraft in low-altitude orbits.

Radio and Communications Interference

A solar maximum affects radio communications in several ways. Most directly, enhanced radio output from the Sun degrades the effective sensitivity of receiver systems linking to satellites near the Earth-Sun line. Historically, the dominant effect has been on long-range, short-wave communication, which depends on radio-wave reflection from the bottom of the ionosphere. Enhanced EUV and soft x-ray emissions change the electron density and gradients in the ionosphere, directly and profoundly affecting this reflection. The effects of enhanced irregularities that often accompany ionospheric disturbances are also of growing importance. The resulting increased scattering of satellite-to-ground ultrahigh-frequency (UHF) transmission, or scintillation, can seriously interfere with direct satellite communication links. Similarly, the variability in propagation conditions degrades the performance of global positioning system (GPS) receivers, very low frequency (VLF) communications systems, and over-the-horizon radars. These effects are of particular concern in the high-latitude regions of auroral activity, but they can also be severe in near-equatorial regions, where convective overturning and enhanced electron densities in the ionosphere can amplify the scintillations.

Satellite and Space Systems Hazards

Transient populations of energetic (MeV) protons, which enhance the Van Allen belt radiation for weeks to months following the arrival of a fast CME, potentially can affect the operation of spacecraft, including spacecraft in the highly populated geosynchronous orbit. For example, protons of these energies are known to contribute to single-event upsets in spacecraft electronics.3 Transient population protons can also reach higher latitudes than the typical inner radiation belt protons and may pose an additional radiation hazard to the crew of the International Space Station (ISS).4 Peak levels of extravehicular activity will occur during the construction phase of ISS, which coincides with the upcoming solar maximum. These energetic protons are not taken into account in models of inner-zone protons, which are based on data taken during the maxima of solar cycles 20 and 21 (which were relatively mild compared with the maxima of solar cycles 19 and 22).

The current prediction for the upcoming (cycle 23) solar maximum is that its activity level will be comparable to that of the previous solar maximum in 1989-1991.5 The transient populations produced by CME-generated interplanetary shocks were discovered only at the last solar maximum (and rediscovered to have occurred in preceding solar cycles that had had scant documentation), and so there is little calibrated predictive capability for the upcoming solar maximum. Earlier limited spacecraft coverage (both upstream in the solar wind and within the appropriate radiation belt region of the magnetosphere) supplied few constraints for dynamic models.

Power Grids

On March 13, 1989, the Hydro-Quebec Power System experienced a catastrophic failure resulting from its interaction with geomagnetically induced currents (GICs). The cause was probably the arrival of an interplanetary disturbance produced by a CME days earlier on the Sun. Although the Hydro-Quebec incident was the greatest problem of its kind during the previous solar maximum, less severe geomagnetic storms in September 1989 and October 1991 also created power system anomalies. In the Hydro-Quebec case, geomagnetic fluctuations had apparently coupled electromagnetically into the system, producing transformer saturation at many sites and causing voltages in the system to exceed safety margins. Widespread power blackouts that accompany such events produce a variety of problems. Oak Ridge National Laboratory assessed the potential impact of a widespread blackout in the Northeast United States as a result of a slightly more severe March 1989-type storm event. Its estimate of the impact to the gross domestic product alone put total economic costs in the $3 billion to $6 billion range,6 which is comparable to the damage caused by a major natural disaster such as Hurricane Hugo. The Northeast, in fact, was found to be particularly vulnerable to GICs. Protections can be installed, but it is impossible to completely protect an extensive power grid from GIC effects. However, evasive measures (such as rerouting the distribution) can be taken if there is sufficient warning and the power industry is prepared to respond.7

Instruments on UARS are continuing a two-decade time-series of space-based measurements of the solar constant.8 However, neither the UARS measurements nor those currently being considered as part of the EOS or National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) programs can elucidate the souce(s) of solar irradiance variability. Images in various spectral lines and bands obtained on SOHO have already revealed the wealth of different features on the Sun and hint at their control by solar magnetism. Assuming the continued operation of UARS and its solar irradiance monitor, we will have the opportunity to observe simultaneously how different solar features evolve with the changes in the solar magnetic field and affect the total irradiance. These observations will finally allow us to identify the sources of solar irradiance variations across a large part of the solar spectrum.

With SOHO, Yohkoh, Winf, IMP-8, and ACE, researchers can begin to distinguish among the varying causes and effects of flares and CMEs as the frequencies of both increase with increasing sunspot number. Using helioseismology techniques on SOHO and from complementary ground-based observatories such as the Global Oscillations Network Group (GONG), we can also begin to understand how the solar dynamo produces the diversity of solar features that affect life on Earth: sunspots, faculae and the active network that make the solar constant a variable; flares with their complex sunspot region connection and their many energetic emissions that can directly affect Earth's atmosphere; and the separable but sometimes related CMEs that produce a panoply of interplanetary and geophysical effects, including geomagnetic storms.9 With SAMPEX, FAST, Polar, and Geotail, researchers can observe the geospace responses to these different solar stimuli, and (from the ground and suborbital platforms) the atmospheric and ionospheric consequences.

Another technological development since the last solar activity cycle is the widespread availability of the World Wide Web (WWW). This Internet-based information system has completely revolutionized the way researchers access the latest information and tools, and analyze and exchange data. The importance of the Web and the advent of computers capable of the near-real-time global numerical simulation of space weather events cannot be overemphasized. Through these capabilities and modeling efforts such as those mentioned below, researchers are poised to acquire a physical understanding of Sun-Earth coupling at solar maximum that was never before possible.

The upcoming solar maximum also provides opportunities to test and refine models and simulations of solar activity. The development of both models and computers capable of the near-real-time global magnetohyrodynamic simulation of a long-duration (i.e., >1 day) event was demonstrated for the January 6-11, 1997, magnetic cloud. A modular approach to developing a geospace general circulation model is under way as part of the NSF-sponsored Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) program. Its purpose is to provide a modeling capability in support of the NSWP goals that can be benchmarked against the body of data collected from ISTP satellite and coordinated ground-based studies. The models are being tested against data from the solar minimum and the current rise toward maximum. The extreme events of solar maximum like those ensuing from the March 1989 and 1991 storm periods are expected to provide the most stringent tests for the model development, but only if the relevant spacecraft data are available to constrain the models.

Having a full suite of solar and geospace instrumentation in place will also provide spinoffs in other disciplines of space science: Astronomers will have new insights into stellar magnetism and emissions, astrophysicists will find new analogies regarding particle sources and acceleration mechanisms in stellar environments, investigators in the Origins program will better understand the central stars in their extrasolar planetary systems and the effects of those stars on their surrounding planets, planetary scientists will have a basis for better modeling past Martian climate variability and for understanding how an active early Sun affected conditions on the surface of Mars (and Earth), and Earth scientists will have the information needed to physically model solar variability effects on our own planet.

SUMMARY

Researchers recognize that each solar cycle is unique in its impact on Earth's environment. Solar cycles 19 and 22 were extremely active, cycles 20 and 21 comparatively benign. We now have a unique capability to capitalize on whatever the Sun generates that will affect Earth's environment during the maximum in solar cycle 23. The observations and the scientific results forthcoming from a concerted effort by the solar-terrestrial community will enhance the basic understanding of solar phenomena, which will in turn improve the predictability of environmental perturbations that affect Earth satellites, communications, power grid disruptions, and other aspects of technology that affect our lives.

http://www.nas.edu/ssb/maxch3.htm Resource List at bottom of page

Subj: [SO] SOHO Sees Right Through the Sun
Date: 03/09/2000

Source: European Space Agency

March 9, 2000

SOHO sees right through the Sun, and finds sunspots on the far side

One of the highest hopes for SOHO, the European Space Agency (ESA)-NASA spacecraft is fulfilled with the detection of sunspots on the invisible far side of the Sun. This scientific marvel promises practical benefits. It could give an extra week's warning of possible bad weather in space, to astronauts and operators of satellites, power networks and other systems liable to be affected by eruptions on the Sun linked to sunspots.

The story is told today in the journal Science by Charles Lindsey of Tucson, Arizona, and Doug Braun of Boulder, Colorado. They realised that the analytical witchcraft called helioseismic holography might open a window right through the Sun. And the technique worked when they used it to decode waves seen on the visible surface by one of SOHO's instruments, the Michelson Doppler Imager, or MDI.

"We've known for ten years that in theory we could make the Sun transparent all the way to the far side," said Charles Lindsey."But we needed observations of exceptional quality. In the end we got them, from MDI on SOHO."

For more than 100 years scientists have been aware that groups of dark sunspots on the Sun's visible face are often the scene of flares and other eruptions. Nowadays they watch the Sun more closely than ever, because modern systems are much more vulnerable to solar disturbances than old-style technology was.

The experts can still be taken by surprise, because the Sun turns on its axis. A large group of previously hidden sunspots can suddenly swing into view on the eastern (left-hand) edge of the Sun. It may already be blazing away with menacing eruptions. With a far-side preview of sunspots, nasty shocks for the space weather forecasters may now be avoidable.

Last year, French and Finnish scientists used SWAN, another instrument on SOHO, to detect activity on the far side. They saw an ultraviolet glow lighting up gas in the Solar System beyond the Sun, and moving across the sky like a lighthouse beam as the Sun rotated. The method used by Lindsey and Braun with MDI data is completely different, and it pinpoints the source of the activity on the far side.

Solar seismology chalks up another success

Detection of sound waves reverberating through the Sun opened its gassy interior for investigation, in much the same way as seismologists learned to explore the Earth's rocky interior with earthquake waves.

Using special telescopes on the ground and in space, helioseismologists detect many different modes of vibration appearing at the Sun's surface, all with tales to tell about how the interior is structured and how the gas moves about.

The SOHO spacecraft is an ideal platform for helioseismology because its station 1.5 million kilometres out in space allows it to watch the Sun for 24 hours a day. Its own motions are very gentle - an important consideration when scientists are looking for subtle motions on the Sun's surface.

Developed and operated by a Californian team, the MDI instrument is the most elaborate of three helioseismic instruments on SOHO. It measures rhythmic motions at a million points across the Sun's visible surface.

Computers can interpret the motions in terms of sound waves travelling through the Sun. The waves are affected by the various layers and movements of gas that they encounter. MDI has already revealed many unknown features of the interior, including layers where the speed of the gas changes abruptly and hidden jet streams circling the Sun's poles. The team is also discovering what goes on underneath sunspots on the near side of the Sun.

Philip Scherrer of Stanford University, California, leads the MDI team. He is gratified but not surprised that his instrument has chalked up another success, with the detection of sunspots on the far side.

"Up till now we've explored the Sun's interior quite thoroughly from the near surface down to the core," Scherrer commented. "Charlie Lindsey and Doug Braun told me many years ago how they hoped to use MDI on SOHO to see all the way to the far side. I was always sure they could do it."

The technique of helioseismic holography used by Lindsey and Braun examines a wide ring of sound waves that emanate from a small region on the far side, and reach the near side by rebounding internally from the solar surface. A sunspot group reveals itself because the Sun's surface is depressed and very strong magnetic fields speed up the sound waves.

As a result the sound waves arrive at the front side about 6 seconds earlier than equivalent waves from sunspot-free regions, in a total travel time of about 3 hours. The change in speed becomes evident when sound waves shuttling back and forth get out of step with one another.

MDI data for 28-29 March 1998 revealed, on the far side, a sunspot group that was not plainly visible on the near side until ten days later. Observations for 24 hours were more than sufficient to detect the sunspots, which means that routine monitoring is a realistic possibility.

"The far-side sunspots are a good example of why this spacecraft is so exciting to work with," said Bernhard Fleck, ESA's project scientist for SOHO. "We can make a completely new discovery in fundamental solar physics, and immediately think of applying it to the practical task of monitoring the daily activity of the Sun and predicting its effects on the Earth."

The SOHO project is an international cooperation between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. The spacecraft was built in Europe for ESA and equipped with instruments by teams of scientists in Europe and the USA. NASA launched SOHO in December 1995, and in 1998 ESA and NASA decided to extend its highly successful operations until 2003.

For more information, please contact:

ESA - Communication Department

Media Relations Office
Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690
Dr. Bernhard Fleck
SOHO Project Scientist
Tel: +1.301.286.40.98
email: bfleck@esa.nascom.nasa.gov

Subj: [earthchanges] Fwd: [TimeStar] Milestone -- Sun's north and south poles reversing

Date: 2/3/2001

Reply-to: earthchanges@yahoogroups.com

SHARING LIGHT, LEE GUILMETTE CHIN

TimeStar-owner@yahoogroups.com

Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2001 02:19:11 -0000

Reversal of the sun's north and south magnetic poles is nearly complete according to a survey made by the Ulysses spacecraft in January. You may remember that I suspected the sun's poles had reversed in August based on a new solar pattern I found in the calendar glyphs. I asked the egroup to watch for news about changes in the solar cycle.

James Kennedy forwarded an article on the two-week survey done by the Ulysses spacecraft in January today (February 3). I've included the text of the article and a link to the web site that published the article.

After predicting periods when Class X solar flares were possible for four years, the pattern began to skew last summer. Solar activity fell to extremely low levels during windows when flares should have been high. Then large solar flares began to erupt during windows opposite the previous four years. The reversal of glyphs associated with solar activity indicated that the sun's magnetic poles might have changed.

The November 8 solar storm mentioned in the article on the pole reversal was predicted with the TimeStar based on the new pattern I had found. The largest solar flare since November came during the window when I had predicted the possibility of large flares based on the new pattern pointed out by the calendar glyphs.

No other predictive method identified the reversal of the sun's magnetic poles that was confirmed by the Ulysses spacecraft five months after I announced the reversal to the TimeStar egroup. The ability to predict a reversal of the sun's magnetic poles with the pattern of calendar glyphs is a milestone in interpreting the scientific foundation of the ancient calendar. The evidence to prove that the ancient timekeepers used an astronomical system that was unknown to European astronomers has been acquired. The TimeStar's capacity for predicting trends in the earth grid with 13-day windows has been proven.

The scientific model embodied in the proto-Mayan calendar was explained in a "UFO" contact with humans who reported that they had encoded the science of the ancient calendar in the pyramids. The ancient astronauts who encoded the calendar in the pyramids at Teotihuacan are the same astronauts who inspired the TimeStar. They taught the cosmic science of the ancient calendar to the natives of Mexico then explained the science to me in the 20th Century.

The proofs and evidence of the TimeStar are established, and the groundwork is laid to work with a new chapter of cosmic science in a more personal way. The ancients understood that the sun was the governor of life on Earth. A new world era based on the solar cycle within a changing cosmic environment began in 1991. Among the many changes I predicted in 1996 was a steady increase in brain diseases that included mad cow disease. Mad cow disease has now spread worldwide and the number of autistic births has increased more than 500% since 1991. The potentials of these problems were pointed out in Teotihuacan's focus on brain function.

The potential for activating higher brain functions to reach the next level of Homo sapien's evolution is offered with the new world era. Failure to develop Homo sapien's potential to the next level results in disease. Nature will remove those life forms that do not develop with her cycles of evolution. Secret government black projects don't have to design new diseases to clear away overpopulation. Nature is taking care of this herself, and the black projects will be part of what Nature removes if they don't get a grip on personal evolution.

Activating higher human functions is the focus necessary for the cycle that began with the World Bridger eclipse on January 9, 2001.

http://unisci.com/stories/20011/0129016.htm

Struggle Seen As Sun Switches Magnetic Field Polarity During solar maximum, when the Sun's activity is at a peak in its 11 year cycle, the polarity of its magnetic field changes: the north pole takes on the polarity of the south pole and vice versa. Now, for the first time ever, a spacecraft has witnessed this process from a front-row seat high above the Sun's south pole. On January 16, the European Southern Observatory (ESA)'s Ulysses spacecraft completed its four-month southern solar polar passage as solar activity reached its peak.

Did Ulysses see the Sun's polarity switch?

Andre Balogh, from Imperial College, London, who is Principal Investigator for the Ulysses magnetometer, says:

"In the past few months, the direction of the magnetic field observed by Ulysses fluctuated between the old and the new. Even now, there are periods when the old polarity is still present.

"Clearly, a struggle is going on in the Sun's magnetic field, with freshly emerging new polarity regions racing towards the polar regions, encountering the slowly decaying older polarity regions. We know that the new polarity will win through, but the battle is still on for another few months."

Viewed from the Earth, the Sun's magnetic field seems to have already switched. At the ESLAB symposium last October, Todd Hoeksema from NASA headquarters reported that ground-based observatories had already noticed the change.

Balogh points out, however, that "the Earth is not the ideal vantage point to see what happens at high heliolatitudes. We are witnessing a complex process in which different phenomena signal reversal processes at different times and in different ways. This is why Ulysses, flying over the polar regions, is much better placed to observe the disappearance of the old magnetic polarities and the appearance of the new."

The Ulysses probe continues to weather the effects of numerous solar storms churned up by the magnetic turmoil welling up from deep within the Sun's interior. These storms release large numbers of energetic particles that stream away from the Sun.

One particularly strong solar storm occurred around midnight on November 8 last year. Spacecraft in orbit around the Earth recorded large numbers of energetic particles generated by it. The surprise was that Ulysses also detected the storm's effects at about the same time.

"Most of the activity on the Sun is taking place around 200 north.The surprise is that we're seeing almost identical signatures over the pole. The highly energetic particles must cross magnetic field lines to reach such high latitudes, which suggests that the field lines must be very tangled up.

"We know that the magnetic field configuration is completely different from how it was at solar minimum -- and these particle observations will help us to understand these differences in detail," says Richard Marsden, Ulysses Project Scientist from ESTEC, the Netherlands, who has been examining data from the COSPIN experiment on board Ulysses.

"The Sun's magnetism is very complex," adds Balogh. "Given this unique chance to sit by the ringside as the two magnetic polarities fight it out, Ulysses is once again able to make a significant step forward in our understanding of the Sun and the heliosphere."

On January 16, Ulysses crossed the 70th solar parallel, marking the end of its second passage above the south pole. The first time Ulysses visited the south pole, in 1994, the Sun was near its activity minimum. By the time the spacecraft begins its north polar passage on September 3, the activity should have begun to decline again. 29-Jan-2001

Best regards,

krsanna@kosmobile.com

http://www.timestar.org

http://www.kosmobile.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Space Weather News for March 2, 2001

http://www.spaceweather.com

SOLAR ACTIVITY: This week the face of the Sun looked remarkably blank as the sunspot number dropped to its lowest level in three months. But there's more to solar activity than sunspots! On February 28th a filament collapsed on the Sun and the eruption sent a coronal mass ejection toward Earth. The expanding cloud will likely reach our planet on Saturday, March 3rd, and trigger high latitude auroras.

For more information about this and other space weather news, please visit http://www.spaceweather.com.

THE SUN'S MAGNETIC FIELD

The Sun Does a Flip

NASA scientists who monitor the Sun say that our star's awesome magnetic field is flipping -- a sure sign that solar maximum is here.

http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html Ulysses

February 15, 2001 -- You can't tell by looking, but scientists say the Sun has just undergone an important change. Our star's magnetic field has flipped.

The Sun's magnetic north pole, which was in the northern hemisphere just a few months ago, now points south. It's a topsy-turvy situation, but not an unexpected one.

"This always happens around the time of solar maximum," says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The magnetic poles exchange places at the peak of the sunspot cycle. In fact, it's a good indication that Solar Max is really here."

Above: Sunspot counts, plotted here against an x-ray image of the Sun, are nearing their maximum for the current solar cycle. [more information]

The Sun's magnetic poles will remain as they are now, with the north magnetic pole pointing through the Sun's southern hemisphere, until the year 2012 when they will reverse again. This transition happens, as far as we know, at the peak of every 11-year sunspot cycle -- like clockwork.

Earth’s magnetic field also flips, but with less regularity. Consecutive reversals are spaced 5 thousand years to 50 million years apart. The last reversal happened 740,000 years ago. Some researchers think our planet is overdue for another one, but nobody knows exactly when the next reversal might occur.

Although solar and terrestrial magnetic fields behave differently, they do have something in common: their shape. During solar minimum the Sun's field, like Earth's, resembles that of an iron bar magnet, with great closed loops near the equator and open field lines near the poles. Scientists call such a field a "dipole." The Sun's dipolar field is about as strong as a refrigerator magnet, or 50 gauss (a unit of magnetic intensity). Earth's magnetic field is 100 times weaker.

Below: The Sun's basic magnetic field, like Earth's, resembles that of a bar magnet.

When solar maximum arrives and sunspots pepper the face of the Sun, our star's magnetic field begins to change. Sunspots are places where intense magnetic loops -- hundreds of times stronger than the ambient dipole field -- poke through the photosphere.

"Meridional flows on the Sun's surface carry magnetic fields from mid-latitude sunspots to the Sun's poles," explains Hathaway. "The poles end up flipping because these flows transport south-pointing magnetic flux to the north magnetic pole, and north-pointing flux to the south magnetic pole." The dipole field steadily weakens as oppositely-directed flux accumulates at the Sun's poles until, at the height of solar maximum, the magnetic poles change polarity and begin to grow in a new direction.

Hathaway noticed the latest polar reversal in a "magnetic butterfly diagram." Using data collected by astronomers at the U.S. National Solar Observatory on Kitt Peak, he plotted the Sun's average magnetic field, day by day, as a function of solar latitude and time from 1975 through the present. The result is a sort of strip chart recording that reveals evolving magnetic patterns on the Sun's surface. "We call it a butterfly diagram," he says, "because sunspots make a pattern in this plot that looks like the wings of a butterfly."

In the butterfly diagram, pictured below, the Sun's polar fields appear as strips of uniform color near 90 degrees latitude. When the colors change (in this case from blue to yellow or vice versa) it means the polar fields have switched signs.

In this "magnetic butterfly diagram," yellow regions are occupied by south-pointing magnetic fields; blue denotes north. At mid-latitudes the diagram is dominated by intense magnetic fields above sunspots. During the sunspot cycle, sunspots drift, on average, toward the equator -- hence the butterfly wings. The uniform blue and yellow regions near the poles reveal the orientation of the Sun's underlying dipole magnetic field. [more information]

The ongoing changes are not confined to the space immediately around our star, Hathaway added. The Sun's magnetic field envelops the entire solar system in a bubble that scientists call the "heliosphere." The heliosphere extends 50 to 100 astronomical units (AU) beyond the orbit of Pluto. Inside it is the solar system -- outside is interstellar space.

"Changes in the Sun's magnetic field are carried outward through the heliosphere by the solar wind," explains Steve Suess, another solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "It takes about a year for disturbances to propagate all the way from the Sun to the outer bounds of the heliosphere."

Because the Sun rotates (once every 27 days) solar magnetic fields corkscrew outwards in the shape of an Archimedian spiral. Far above the poles the magnetic fields twist around like a child's Slinky toy.

Left: Steve Suess (NASA/MSFC) prepared this figure, which shows the Sun's spiraling magnetic fields from a vantage point ~100 AU from the Sun.

Because of all the twists and turns, "the impact of the field reversal on the heliosphere is complicated," says Hathaway. Sunspots are sources of intense magnetic knots that spiral outwards even as the dipole field vanishes. The heliosphere doesn't simply wink out of existence when the poles flip -- there are plenty of complex magnetic structures to fill the void.

Or so the theory goes.... Researchers have never seen the magnetic flip happen from the best possible point of view -- that is, from the top down.

But now, the unique Ulysses spacecraft may give scientists a reality check. Ulysses, an international joint venture of the European Space Agency and NASA, was launched in 1990 to observe the solar system from very high solar latitudes. Every six years the spacecraft flies 2.2 AU over the Sun's poles. No other probe travels so far above the orbital plane of the planets.

"Ulysses just passed under the Sun's south pole," says Suess, a mission co-Investigator. "Now it will loop back and fly over the north pole in the fall."

Right: Following an encounter with Jupiter in 1992, the Ulysses spacecraft went into a high polar orbit. It's maximum solar latitude is 80.2 degrees south. [more]

"This is the most important part of our mission," he says. Ulysses last flew over the Sun's poles in 1994 and 1996, during solar minimum, and the craft made several important discoveries about cosmic rays, the solar wind, and more. "Now we get to see the Sun's poles during the other extreme: Solar Max. Our data will cover a complete solar cycle."

To learn more about the Sun's changing magnetic field and how it is generated, please visit "The Solar Dynamo," a web page prepared by the NASA/Marshall solar research group. Updates from the Ulysses spacecraft may be found on the Internet from JPL at http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov.

Web Links
Ulysses Home Page -- learn more about NASA's exploration of the inner heliosphere from JPL

Magnetic Reversals and Moving Continents -- How do we know Earth's magnetic field flips? This excellent web site from NASA/Goddard reveals the answer.

Magnetism - the Key to Understanding the Sun -- an introduction to solar magnetism presented by the NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center solar research group

The Dynamo Process -- a nice tutorial on magnetic dynamos

The Sun's Magnetic Cycle -- from the Goddard Space Flight Center

The Spiral of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field -- includes an eye-catching lawn sprinkler animation that illustrates the Sun's spiraling magnetic field.

Real Time Movies of the Sun from Soho-Lasco

http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/text/newz18x.htm

http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/sun/torpedo_followup.html

http://members.aol.com/phikent/orbit/projectile.html

Revelation of the Sun

How We Tell Time In The Solar System

Signs In The Sky

The Solar Eclipse of 1999

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