But wait! There's more!
At Solar Max, the coronal holes move away from the Sun's poles and group in with the sunspots, spewing high-speed solar particles out into the plane of the solar system.
At the end of every 11-year cycle, the magnetic orientation of the spots...flips. The end that was North becomes South, and the end that was South becomes North. It takes a whole 'nother cycle to get back to the way it started out. So that's a second solar cycle, the 22-year cycle.
In addition there are longer cycles that we are still working on figuring out, because they're hundreds of years long, and it's hard to get data that goes far enough back to chart those.
Now, sunspots look dark not because they're cold, but because they're just a bit cooler than the surrounding plasma of the photosphere (which is the visible “surface” of the Sun). If the photosphere is about 5,800°K (~10,500°F), then the sunspots are about 3,000-4,500°K (4,900-7,600°F). Still plenty hot enough to fry your turkey, but still several thousand degrees cooler than their surroundings. They can be teeny-tiny (relatively speaking, of course) or they can be huge things (80,000km/50,000mi – not too shabby when you consider the Earth is about 13,000km/8,000mi diameter) big enough to be seen by the naked eye (but don't do that – we like having eyesight.)
So you might reasonably expect that during a solar max the Sun would be cooler, and send less energy out into space, right? Well, at first glance you might think so, but that isn't really how it works. Remember, a sunspot is a big magnetic snarl. And the plasma around it follows the lines in that snarl. So we get all those great big loops – prominences and flares and things like that. Occasionally, like a snarl in your hair, the lines break – but unlike your hair, they reattach, producing really spectacular flares.
And then there are the CMEs. Coronal Mass Ejections.
I'm never quite sure how to best anthropomorphise a CME. Are they solar belches, or sneezes? Suffice it to say that all of that magnetic field mess around the sunspot group causes some sort of explosion. (No, we don't know exactly why. We do know it's really, really complicated.) And it is like a giant nuclear bomb, blowing a big bubble of plasma away from the Sun at high speeds.
So between the coronal holes increasing both the speed and density of the solar wind, and these CMEs exploding into the solar system, the most active time for the Sun is in fact solar max, and that is when it's pumping more energy into the solar system, not less.
I know, I know - that doesn't make sense. Let's talk about the details next week.
Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com
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Monday, May 7, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
Solar, Space, and Geomagnetic Weather, Part 1
A lot of my friends and fans over on Facebook have become followers of my solar and aurora alerts there, and it has been suggested that I make this a regular part of my blog, so I thought I'd explain what it is and why it's important.
All three - solar weather, space weather, and geomagnetic weather - are interconnected. This is because the Sun has a magnetic field that extends far past the Earth, and so the Earth's magnetic field interacts with it. "Space Weather" is essentially a term for the conditions of space in the general vicinity of Earth, but not necessarily inside the Earth's magnetic field.
We are also sitting inside the atmosphere of the Sun, which is called the corona. It generates a wind, usually coming out from the Sun and spiraling away – yeah, the “solar wind.” Granted, the corona isn't very dense, but it's dense enough to create some effects, and we're working on using it to our benefit, like in solar sails and such, which can use the solar wind as much as light pressure (different blog post) to maneuver around the Solar System like the spaceborne clipper ships of old.
But when the Sun gets...agitated, we'll say...it can get a lot denser. Coronal holes move from the poles down to lower latitudes, and the Sun's face develops an astronomical case of acne. This usually occurs around the time of solar maximum.
Whoa. Waitaminit. What's “solar maximum”?
Our Sun has cycles that it goes through. Some are short and some are long. These cycles are related to its magnetic field and to sunspots. In fact, many variable star astronomers such as myself consider that the Sun is at least a borderline variable star because of this; some consider it outright variable. We'll leave that to a later discussion. For now, let's just look at those cycles and why they exist.
The Sun is a gigantic ball of plasma, a gas of ionized particules like protons and electrons. It spins on an axis. These two facts, when combined, create an electic current. An electric current, in turn, generates a magnetic field. This is why the Sun has a magnetic field, and it looks like a bar magnet – a “dipole.” (Remember elementary school when you put a piece of paper on a bar magnet and sprinkled iron filings on it? It made a cool bunch of lines that arced from one end of the magnet to the other, and then fanned out at the very ends. That's what I'm talking about.) The polar areas normally have “coronal holes,” because of the open-ended lines. The plasma flows out, away from the Sun, at high speeds (200-600km/s, 124-373 mi/s or 447,000-1,340,000 mph).
But since the Sun isn't solid like a bar magnet, the plasma doesn't all have to spin around the axis at the same speed – and it doesn't. The poles don't spin at the same rate as the equator, and the deeper layers don't spin at the same rate as the surface.
So let's think about those lines of iron filings again. Our bar magnet has gone and gotten itself all twisted up because it isn't solid, so the lines of iron filings get all twisted up, too. Now, scientists are still working on this, but the best we can figure out now is that sunspots are places where “snarls” form in the magnetic lines, and break through to the surface. (In the last couple of years we've learned how to look “deeper” into the Sun to see these snarls below the visible surface. Remember that. It'll come into play later on, when we start talking about the Sun as a variable star.) This means that sunspots have magnetic fields, sometimes very complicated. There are almost always at least two – one is a north magnetic pole, the other a south pole. (When there is just one, it is usually funny-shaped and one end will be North and the opposite end South. And sometimes there's a whole cluster, which gets really complicated.) And most all of the spots on the Sun will have the same N/S orientation.
It turns out that every 11 years, there is a peak in the number of sunspots, and a minimum in the number of sunspots. We aren't quite sure why, because we don't have all the theory worked out yet. But we've all heard of Solar Maximum and Solar Minimum, and that's what those terms mean. Solar Max is when we have the most spots, and Solar Min is when we have the least.
(To be continued.)
-Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com
All three - solar weather, space weather, and geomagnetic weather - are interconnected. This is because the Sun has a magnetic field that extends far past the Earth, and so the Earth's magnetic field interacts with it. "Space Weather" is essentially a term for the conditions of space in the general vicinity of Earth, but not necessarily inside the Earth's magnetic field.
We are also sitting inside the atmosphere of the Sun, which is called the corona. It generates a wind, usually coming out from the Sun and spiraling away – yeah, the “solar wind.” Granted, the corona isn't very dense, but it's dense enough to create some effects, and we're working on using it to our benefit, like in solar sails and such, which can use the solar wind as much as light pressure (different blog post) to maneuver around the Solar System like the spaceborne clipper ships of old.
But when the Sun gets...agitated, we'll say...it can get a lot denser. Coronal holes move from the poles down to lower latitudes, and the Sun's face develops an astronomical case of acne. This usually occurs around the time of solar maximum.
Whoa. Waitaminit. What's “solar maximum”?
Our Sun has cycles that it goes through. Some are short and some are long. These cycles are related to its magnetic field and to sunspots. In fact, many variable star astronomers such as myself consider that the Sun is at least a borderline variable star because of this; some consider it outright variable. We'll leave that to a later discussion. For now, let's just look at those cycles and why they exist.
The Sun is a gigantic ball of plasma, a gas of ionized particules like protons and electrons. It spins on an axis. These two facts, when combined, create an electic current. An electric current, in turn, generates a magnetic field. This is why the Sun has a magnetic field, and it looks like a bar magnet – a “dipole.” (Remember elementary school when you put a piece of paper on a bar magnet and sprinkled iron filings on it? It made a cool bunch of lines that arced from one end of the magnet to the other, and then fanned out at the very ends. That's what I'm talking about.) The polar areas normally have “coronal holes,” because of the open-ended lines. The plasma flows out, away from the Sun, at high speeds (200-600km/s, 124-373 mi/s or 447,000-1,340,000 mph).
But since the Sun isn't solid like a bar magnet, the plasma doesn't all have to spin around the axis at the same speed – and it doesn't. The poles don't spin at the same rate as the equator, and the deeper layers don't spin at the same rate as the surface.
So let's think about those lines of iron filings again. Our bar magnet has gone and gotten itself all twisted up because it isn't solid, so the lines of iron filings get all twisted up, too. Now, scientists are still working on this, but the best we can figure out now is that sunspots are places where “snarls” form in the magnetic lines, and break through to the surface. (In the last couple of years we've learned how to look “deeper” into the Sun to see these snarls below the visible surface. Remember that. It'll come into play later on, when we start talking about the Sun as a variable star.) This means that sunspots have magnetic fields, sometimes very complicated. There are almost always at least two – one is a north magnetic pole, the other a south pole. (When there is just one, it is usually funny-shaped and one end will be North and the opposite end South. And sometimes there's a whole cluster, which gets really complicated.) And most all of the spots on the Sun will have the same N/S orientation.
It turns out that every 11 years, there is a peak in the number of sunspots, and a minimum in the number of sunspots. We aren't quite sure why, because we don't have all the theory worked out yet. But we've all heard of Solar Maximum and Solar Minimum, and that's what those terms mean. Solar Max is when we have the most spots, and Solar Min is when we have the least.
(To be continued.)
-Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Being handicapped and chronic pain
Most people, unless they are good friends, see me walking around SF cons, and they usually don't realize I'm handicapped. Yes, that's right, handicapped. Officially. Car placards and everything. I have a congenital malformation in both knees that caused them to wear out at twice the normal rate. The cartilage is shredded and gone, and I am bone-on-bone in both knees. My orthopedist says it's only a matter of time before I need knee replacements.
Now, I know that's a very successful surgery and I've collected stories from people who've had it done, singing its praises, by way of research. The problem is, I've been cut on enough lately and am not over-eager to have more cutting anytime soon; and frankly, the idea of hacking out my bones and replacing them with metal and plastic gives me the willies. Yes, I'm a scientist. Yes, I think it's wonderful technology. But there is a psychological factor involved that I haven't yet managed to overcome. May never overcome.
In fact I went through a period of depression after he told me. I've never really considered myself athletic, per se, but I've always been very active in sports - everything from golf and tennis to karate and polo. Most of those have had to be curtailed. I fought it, tooth and nail, but these days my athletics come mostly in the gym. I eventually came out of the depression when I found I wasn't relegated to a rocking chair on the porch - yet.
When I bend my knees it sounds like a whole mixing bowl of Rice Krispies. It feels much worse. There is hardly a day that goes by that I am not in pain as a result. But you get used to it. You learn to deal unless something happens to really make 'em flare, and you learn to use other body parts to compensate. My arms and shoulders are stronger because of using them to assist; there are down sides to that, however. Like impinged rotator cuffs, which has happened something like 4-5 times since my knees were diagnosed. I no longer even see a therapist for that - I simply start the appropriate exercises. I have a nice collection of canes for the really bad days, too. Most people don't see those much anymore; sometimes they're more in the way than they are help.
Now, there are things that I do periodically to help the knees. One of the most normal and most regular is to get into the gym and keep my leg muscles strong. My orthopedist is in agreement that this helps stabilize my knees. But the most invasive, and most effective, of these things I do is to have an artificial lubricant injected into the joint to take the place of the cartilage that isn't there anymore. It used to require a six-week protocol, 3 weeks for each knee. Now that I'm used to it, they do both knees at once.
The first step in the process is to swab the injection site on the outside of my knee with alcohol, then hit it thoroughly with "freeze spray" to numb it. Next comes a novocaine injection directly into the joint. Leaving the needle in, my orthopedist swaps out the empty novocaine syringe for a full Synvisc syringe, and pumps that in. Back out, apply a band-aid, and repeat on other knee. Do this for 3 weeks, to give each blob of Synvisc time to spread out around the joints, and I'm good to go for anywhere from 6 months to a couple years. Yeah, it's kinda cringe-worthy. I don't watch while he's doing it. (I did once.)
But the cool thing is, between the novocaine and the Synvisc, there's a period of anywhere from 12 to 24 hours when my knees DO NOT HURT. At all.
This is an incredible blessing and it always surprises me. When you're used to living in pain, no matter how small (and this is not especially small, but like I said, you deal and you ignore) and that pain suddenly goes away, it's amazing. I had the first injections of the 3-week protocol this morning, and I am so relaxed I could easily fall asleep sitting here. There is a tension missing from my body, something I'd grown used to that's not there right now, and as a result I'm all but a puddle of Jell-O.
It's nice. I intend to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm not allowed to work out today or tomorrow, due to the potential of swelling. But I'm certainly not going to let this wonderful, relaxed, pain-free feeling go to waste.
I'm going to take a nap. The pain can wait until tomorrow.
-Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com
Now, I know that's a very successful surgery and I've collected stories from people who've had it done, singing its praises, by way of research. The problem is, I've been cut on enough lately and am not over-eager to have more cutting anytime soon; and frankly, the idea of hacking out my bones and replacing them with metal and plastic gives me the willies. Yes, I'm a scientist. Yes, I think it's wonderful technology. But there is a psychological factor involved that I haven't yet managed to overcome. May never overcome.
In fact I went through a period of depression after he told me. I've never really considered myself athletic, per se, but I've always been very active in sports - everything from golf and tennis to karate and polo. Most of those have had to be curtailed. I fought it, tooth and nail, but these days my athletics come mostly in the gym. I eventually came out of the depression when I found I wasn't relegated to a rocking chair on the porch - yet.
When I bend my knees it sounds like a whole mixing bowl of Rice Krispies. It feels much worse. There is hardly a day that goes by that I am not in pain as a result. But you get used to it. You learn to deal unless something happens to really make 'em flare, and you learn to use other body parts to compensate. My arms and shoulders are stronger because of using them to assist; there are down sides to that, however. Like impinged rotator cuffs, which has happened something like 4-5 times since my knees were diagnosed. I no longer even see a therapist for that - I simply start the appropriate exercises. I have a nice collection of canes for the really bad days, too. Most people don't see those much anymore; sometimes they're more in the way than they are help.
Now, there are things that I do periodically to help the knees. One of the most normal and most regular is to get into the gym and keep my leg muscles strong. My orthopedist is in agreement that this helps stabilize my knees. But the most invasive, and most effective, of these things I do is to have an artificial lubricant injected into the joint to take the place of the cartilage that isn't there anymore. It used to require a six-week protocol, 3 weeks for each knee. Now that I'm used to it, they do both knees at once.
The first step in the process is to swab the injection site on the outside of my knee with alcohol, then hit it thoroughly with "freeze spray" to numb it. Next comes a novocaine injection directly into the joint. Leaving the needle in, my orthopedist swaps out the empty novocaine syringe for a full Synvisc syringe, and pumps that in. Back out, apply a band-aid, and repeat on other knee. Do this for 3 weeks, to give each blob of Synvisc time to spread out around the joints, and I'm good to go for anywhere from 6 months to a couple years. Yeah, it's kinda cringe-worthy. I don't watch while he's doing it. (I did once.)
But the cool thing is, between the novocaine and the Synvisc, there's a period of anywhere from 12 to 24 hours when my knees DO NOT HURT. At all.
This is an incredible blessing and it always surprises me. When you're used to living in pain, no matter how small (and this is not especially small, but like I said, you deal and you ignore) and that pain suddenly goes away, it's amazing. I had the first injections of the 3-week protocol this morning, and I am so relaxed I could easily fall asleep sitting here. There is a tension missing from my body, something I'd grown used to that's not there right now, and as a result I'm all but a puddle of Jell-O.
It's nice. I intend to enjoy it while it lasts. I'm not allowed to work out today or tomorrow, due to the potential of swelling. But I'm certainly not going to let this wonderful, relaxed, pain-free feeling go to waste.
I'm going to take a nap. The pain can wait until tomorrow.
-Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com
Friday, October 28, 2011
R.I.P Comet Elenin (and rumors, too!)
It's dead, Jim.
Comet Elenin is no more.
According to both NASA and Sky and Telescope, Comet Elenin has disintegrated. A first-time comet, meaning it had never been into the inner Solary System before, Elenin was predicted by astronomers to be a bright, beautiful comet, if not quite in the same league as Hale-Bopp. It was simultaneously predicted by some (who didn't understand orbital mechanics) to be the end of the world. Instead, its falling inward toward the sun proved to be the end of the comet.
Coming in from outside the plane of the ecliptic, it would have made for a gorgeous sight for Northern Hemisphere observers, who haven't had a bright comet placed for good viewing in some time. The inclination of this comet relative to the ecliptic (plane of the solar system) would have changed that.
Instead, by April it was showing signs of coming apart at the seams. In August, it was hit broadside by a large coronal mass ejection from the sun, which blew away much of the volatile material that would have made it a lovely comet.
(Contrary to some claims, there was no "energy shield" which protected it from the CME. Any "sightings" of such a thing were likely inadvertent misinterpretations of a bow shock between the cometary material and the CME. Tetrahedral "shields" are unlikely in any event due to the difficulty in producing such a shape - spherical would be much more likely, IF such a shield had existed. I love the way the "true believers" shifted from "natural object" to "alien spacecraft" as soon as evidence for the former vanished in a puff of dust and gas.)
Three weeks before perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) which would have been on September 10, it completely disintegrated. According to comet expert John Bortle, "The decline/fade of Elenin was abrupt and dramatic."
All that's left of the once and never "planet-killer" is a loose, wispy cloud of gas and dust, rapidly dispersing, according to photographs.
Hopefully, so too will be the rumors of its threat.
-Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com
Comet Elenin is no more.
According to both NASA and Sky and Telescope, Comet Elenin has disintegrated. A first-time comet, meaning it had never been into the inner Solary System before, Elenin was predicted by astronomers to be a bright, beautiful comet, if not quite in the same league as Hale-Bopp. It was simultaneously predicted by some (who didn't understand orbital mechanics) to be the end of the world. Instead, its falling inward toward the sun proved to be the end of the comet.
Coming in from outside the plane of the ecliptic, it would have made for a gorgeous sight for Northern Hemisphere observers, who haven't had a bright comet placed for good viewing in some time. The inclination of this comet relative to the ecliptic (plane of the solar system) would have changed that.
Instead, by April it was showing signs of coming apart at the seams. In August, it was hit broadside by a large coronal mass ejection from the sun, which blew away much of the volatile material that would have made it a lovely comet.
(Contrary to some claims, there was no "energy shield" which protected it from the CME. Any "sightings" of such a thing were likely inadvertent misinterpretations of a bow shock between the cometary material and the CME. Tetrahedral "shields" are unlikely in any event due to the difficulty in producing such a shape - spherical would be much more likely, IF such a shield had existed. I love the way the "true believers" shifted from "natural object" to "alien spacecraft" as soon as evidence for the former vanished in a puff of dust and gas.)
Three weeks before perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) which would have been on September 10, it completely disintegrated. According to comet expert John Bortle, "The decline/fade of Elenin was abrupt and dramatic."
All that's left of the once and never "planet-killer" is a loose, wispy cloud of gas and dust, rapidly dispersing, according to photographs.
Hopefully, so too will be the rumors of its threat.
-Stephanie Osborn
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
First Book of a New Series!
Book 1 of the Displaced Detective Series, The Case of the Displaced Detective: The Arrival (for more information see http://www.sff.net/people/steph-osborn/DDTheArrival.html) will be released in November! The official release date is 15 Nov, but that's the day it comes from the printer. Books won't be available from stores (website or otherwise) until around 28Nov-1Dec. Currently Barnes-Noble is accepting pre-orders, and it will be on Amazon as well, but hold that thought for a moment.
Because I am proclaiming Thursday, 1 Dec, to be The Arrival Day!
I am asking all my fans to WAIT and place their orders/purchases on that day, 1 Dec, in the hopes that we can push it as high as possible on the best-seller listings! So please hold off ordering until that day, and then EVERYONE buy on that day! Also please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think will be interested in a science fiction spy mystery that INCLUDES Sherlock Holmes! That means SF fans, mystery fans, spy mystery fans, Sherlock Holmes fans, and anybody that likes a good read!
This story idea hit me and came spewing out in two months! I've never written so hard, so fast! I'm very proud of it and I think you're going to really enjoy it! So let's work together to ensure it does great!
-Steph
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com
Because I am proclaiming Thursday, 1 Dec, to be The Arrival Day!
I am asking all my fans to WAIT and place their orders/purchases on that day, 1 Dec, in the hopes that we can push it as high as possible on the best-seller listings! So please hold off ordering until that day, and then EVERYONE buy on that day! Also please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think will be interested in a science fiction spy mystery that INCLUDES Sherlock Holmes! That means SF fans, mystery fans, spy mystery fans, Sherlock Holmes fans, and anybody that likes a good read!
This story idea hit me and came spewing out in two months! I've never written so hard, so fast! I'm very proud of it and I think you're going to really enjoy it! So let's work together to ensure it does great!
-Steph
http://www.stephanie-osborn.com
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