(Crystal Raypole) – Search (bing.com)
Mathew Owens has been studying the sun for about 23 years.
The upcoming solar maximum should cause more frequent solar flares and coronal mass
ejections is a peak in the sun’s activity that happens around the middle of each solar cycle.
The upcoming maximum may have a bigger impact on space weather and the power grid than the last one. People on Earth won’t obviously notice most of these effects, but you may see brighter auroras. 13 times solar storms caused freak events on Earth, from detonating mines to crashing financial markets – Search (bing.com)
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Mathew Owens, a professor of space physics at the University of Reading who researches space science and weather as it relates to solar activity and the solar maximum. It’s been edited for length and clarity. We’re close to the next solar maximum, predicted to begin in 2025.
The solar maximum represents a peak in solar activity when the sun’s magnetic field reaches its strongest and most disordered and dynamic point. Increased solar activity can cause extreme space weather events, including solar flares and eruptions.
It can also disrupt radio communications and the power grid and have serious health consequences for astronauts. The hazards are primarily to large-scale infrastructure.
On an individual level, people on Earth are unlikely to directly see the effects of solar maximum.
This solar maximum will likely be stronger than the last one.
© NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory
When the sun is more active, it emits more charged particles into space that can intercept Earth and disrupt our planet’s magnetic field. Solar cycles typically last 11 years, and the solar maximum happens roughly in the middle of each cycle. The last solar maximum occurred between 2012-2014 and was particularly weak — one of the smallest in
about 100 years. Consequently, space weather was generally weaker than normal.
This upcoming solar maximum, however, seems like it may return to average values.
That means we may see more of an impact on space weather and related potential consequences.
A combination of real time observations and computer simulations
© NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Duberstein
Shows the directions of magnetic lines on the sun.
Solar activity happens in the first place due to the churning motions of plasma inside the sun, which creates and changes the sun’s magnetic field. The sun’s magnetic field reaches peak strength during solar maximum, generating an increase in events like solar flares and coronal mass ejections. Solar flares consist of high-energy photons, like X-rays, that can increase the ionization in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and disrupt radio communications.
A solar flare erupting from the sun’s surface. © NASA.gov Video
CMEs, on the other hand, are eruptions of solar magnetic fields and material
that fuel geomagnetic storms. These disturbances to the Earth’s magnetic field can damage the power distribution grid. During the solar maximum, we’ll also see more bursts of very high-energy particles traveling toward Earth.
These bursts are around four times as likely to occur during a solar maximum than a solar minimum. And, since the particles in these bursts are radiation, they pose a major health risk to astronauts and passengers and crew on high-latitude and high-altitude aircraft. They can also damage space hardware and lead to satellite loss.
Solar storms can generate stunningly beautiful aurora borealis like this one
seen from Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland. Arctic-Images / Getty Images
You probably won’t notice most of these effects.
Many effects of the solar maximum are ephemeral, which remains one of the biggest challenges in studying space weather. For instance, it’s often difficult to conclusively link a problem in the power grid to space weather — even if solar activity did cause that problem.
The one concrete effect we can confidently predict is that you’ll likely see auroras, aka the Northern and Southern Lights, more frequently at different latitudes.
During the solar maximum, the greater number of solar particles interacting with molecules in Earth’s atmosphere causes brighter displays of the auroras that can
stretch farther north or south than usual.
An animation of the solar wind shows particles streaming
from the sun towards Earth. © NASA
Scientists have also found signals of the solar cycle —
like changes in temperature and ozone levels — in the Earth’s stratosphere.
While scientists do include these changes from the sun when considering long-term climate variations, these effects on the climate aren’t as significant or severe as factors
like volcanoes, carbon dioxide emissions, and other human activity.
Satellites in space are more vulnerable to space weather than tech
on the ground. SVF2/Getty Images©SVF2/Getty Images
Our reliance on tech raises the stakes:
Our collective reliance on technology and space increases each year,
which makes space weather an ever-increasing risk. The threat it poses
to the power grid poses the biggest concern, not in the least due to the
cascading hazards presented by losing power for an extended period.
The solar maximum poses more of a threat to power grids
than the solar minimum. © D3sign/Getty Images
It all comes down to probability, though. A stronger solar cycle just means a greater probability of extreme space weather events. It doesn’t guarantee extreme space weather.
In fact, extreme space weather can occur even in small solar cycles.
During the small solar maximum of cycle 24, a spacecraft far from Earth encountered one of the most energetic CMEs ever seen. A CME of that scale directed at Earth could have caused serious disruptions to the power distribution grid or major damage to satellite hardware.
Related Video: The Amazing NASA Probe Footage
Flying Through The Sun’s Corona (Space.com)
The Solar Storm 666 – Search (bing.com)
The Number of the beast Source: 666 Wikipedia – Search (bing.com)
666 is often associated with the devil, who is illustrated here in an
engraved interpretation by Gustave Doré.
Main article: Number of the beast
In the Textus Receptus manuscripts of the New Testament,
the Book of Revelation (13:17–18) cryptically asserts 666 to be “the man’s number”
or “the number of a man” (depending on how the text is translated) associated with
the Beast, antagonistic creature appearing briefly about 2/3rds into apocalyptic vision.
Some manuscripts[which?]
of the original Koine Greek use the symbols χξϛ chi xi stigma
(or χξϝ with a digamma), while other manuscripts spell out the number in words.[5]
In modern popular culture, 666 has become one of the most widely recognized symbols
for the Antichrist or, alternatively, the devil.
Earnest references to the number occur both among apocalypticism Christian groups
& in explicitly anti-Christian subcultures. References in contemporary Western art or
literature is, more likely than not, intentional references to the Beast symbolism.
Such popular references are therefore too numerous to list.
It is common to see the symbolic role of the integer 666 transferred to the numerical digit sequence 6-6-6. Some people take the Satanic associations of 666 so seriously that
they actively avoid things related to 666 or the digits 6-6-6.
This is known as hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.
The Number of the Beast is cited as 616 in some early biblical manuscripts,
the earliest known instance being in Papyrus 115.[6][7]
Other occurrences
In the Bible, 666 is the number of talents of gold Solomon
collected each year (see 1 Kings 10:14 and 2 Chronicles 9:13).
In the Bible, 666 is the number of Adonikam‘s descendants who return to Jerusalem and Judah from the Babylonian exile (see Ezra 2:13).
magic sum, or sum of the magic constants of a six-by-six magic square,
any row or column of which adds up to 111.
Is the sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel (0 through 36).[8]
Was a winning lottery number in the 1980 Pennsylvania Lottery scandal, in which equipment was tampered to favor a 4 or 6 as each of the three individual random digits.[10]
Was the original name of the Macintosh SevenDust computer virus that was discovered in 1998.[citation needed] It is also the name of an extension that SevenDust can add to an uninfected Macintosh.[11]
The number is a frequent visual element of Aryan Brotherhood tattoos.[12]
Aleister Crowley adopted the title “the Beast 666”.[13] As such, 666 is also
associated with him, his work, and his religious philosophy of Thelema.
Molar mass of the high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O7.
In Chinese numerology, the number is considered to be lucky and is often displayed in shop windows and neon signs.[14][15] In China, 666 can mean “everything goes smoothly” (the number six has the same pronunciation as the character 溜, which means “smooth”.[16]
Is commonly used by ISPs to blackhole traffic using BGP communities.[17]
666 Fifth Avenue in New York City, which was bought for $1.8 billion in 2007,
was the most expensive real estate deal in New York’s history.[18]
US Police Radio Code 666 means “countrywide emergency”.[19]
The Number of the Beast, the 1982 album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden,
Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast (Official Video).
References 666 in its title and the album’s title song.
Humor
Mathematicians and others have created a meme with the square root of 666,
that is 25.8069. The saying goes, “If 666 is evil, then is 25.8069 the root of all evil?” [20]
There’s a Secret Meaning Behind The Devil’s Number 666 : ScienceAlert