U.S.A.
Everyone Else
Health
Science
Business
Technology
Sports
Video Games
Entertainment
Future
Humour
NEWS > SCIENCE > DECLINE IN SOLAR ACTIVITY MAY PORTEND THE DEATH OF SOLAR SYSTEM
DECLINE IN SOLAR ACTIVITY MAY PORTEND THE DEATH OF SOLAR SYSTEM
June 17 2011
Washington, D.C. – The Sun has been, since our planet began sprouting life almost 4 billion years ago, the heart and soul of existence. Nearly all species of life on Earth have been defined by the sun, by the food they eat, by the warmth it provides. The 
Sun is our planet in many ways, and so it has quite correctly become the centre of universe. The Sun has defined the course of life on our planet.
Eventually though the Sun will go away. The nuclear reaction in her heart will sputter and fade, her outer surface will expand and consume the inner planets before shedding its outer layers and becoming a cold, dead body floating in space. As is the case with all those creatures to which it provides life, the Sun is mortal and will eventually go back to where it came. Thankfully, we are living through its prime. That fate is inevitable and unstoppable, but eventually it will perish just like everything else. For years scientists believed that would not happen for a long time, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5 billion years at which time our glowing yellow orb will become a red giant as it engages in death throes. However recent observations of the star have shown that it is going through an unexpected quiet period, a period that some observers believe may bring about the end sooner than we ever could have predicted.
“This is highly unusual and unexpected. This is not a part of the normal cycle that we see from the Sun and is not something of which we have been able to create a model. We see declines in sunspot activity on a regular basis, but they usually work in a kind 
of rhythmic pattern, but that has not happened here,” said one researcher. “The decline in solar activity will affect everything from space exploration to life on Earth. This is very strange and very confusing. I think it would be extreme to say that something profound is happening, but this is certainly an event.”
It’s believed that the current resting period will result in a decline in sunspot activity for a few decades at least.
“This change in cycles is not something we are used to seeing and it could mean that there is a certain degree of unpredictability in the universe for which we haven’t accounted. It could mean very little, or it could be profound. We will have to wait and see,” continued the researcher. “We believe it is unlikely that this will bring about an early end to the sun. We believe that data is correct, provided that the sun is healthy and is not interfered with. Just like in a human we can predict life span, but if sudden illness overtakes them or they are involved in an incident, those predictions go out the window. It is possible that is what is happening here, and that would not be a very good thing.”
Any significant heating or cooling of the Sun could result in the end of all life on Earth.
“Our sun will not go into supernova. It is not large enough for that to happen. However when it becomes a red giant it will either consume Earth or come so close 
that it will boil off all the oceans, the atmosphere, and incinerate the land, so it almost doesn’t matter. If it suddenly implodes and goes cold, pretty much everything would die. The oceans would freeze and most life would die. Neither scenario is particularly desirable,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “There isn’t much we can do about it either. There’s nowhere for us to go. If the sun dies, we die too. We can’t stop the process so we might as well resign ourselves to the end. We should make peace with our loved ones and pray to whatever God we believe in because this would be the end of times. If that happens of course. Just because the models were wrong that doesn’t mean the apocalypse is coming.”
Prayer, it is believed, will not stop the death of the Sun so don’t even bother trying.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
NEWS > SCIENCE > DECLINE IN SOLAR ACTIVITY MAY PORTEND THE DEATH OF SOLAR SYSTEM
LINK IT! http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Science/pages-4/Decline-in-solar-activity-may-portend-the-death-of-the-Solar-System-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html |
TWEET IT! http://goo.gl/UvOgy |
BOOKMARK IT!  
|
|---|
Scrape Store
