Hi guys,

I came across this recently and was wondering if anyone could shed some light on how this might effect practice, in the context of the microcosm in the body reflecting the macrocosm of the solar system...

"Scientists have gone on record to predict "the next solar cycle will be up to 50 percent stronger than the previous." (NASA) ---- It is known as Cycle 24 and is expected to be as much as 50 percent stronger than its predecessor C-23.

"To present a frame work of just what "50 percent stronger" might look like, let's go back to Cycle 23. In this cycle we witnessed sunspot counts into the 400's. The prediction for Cycle 23's 'apex' or (maximum) issued by NASA was 150. The count had more than doubled. We also witnessed the largest solar flare ever recorded on November 4th 2003 known as the "Halloween Flare". This solar flare, and following CME, was so large it literally pegged the needles on all gages. It buried all the instruments which measure magnetic flux and charged particles. It literally shocked the science community.

"At the time, the instruments to measure the strength of a solar flare and CME showing its and its affect on our (Earth's) magnetic field, only went to 9. Until this day, an X-9 was the largest flare recorded. On November 4th 2003 a solar flare and following CME (coronal mass ejection) exploded just as it began rotating over the western limb of the Sun. If it had been just 48 to 72 hours earlier, the flare would have been Earth directed and we would have experienced a direct hit.

"The strength of this event measured an X-40, of which such strength had never been witnessed or anticipated. Even to this day we can only speculate the damage it would have caused to our power grids, satellites, GPS, and any number of devices which depend on communication or directional satellites."


I don't know how accurate the information is but it seems to be relatively legitimate.

Any opinions, insights?

Chris.

I saw this question posted over on the Foundation board, thought it might get a little more discussion here. Interesting topic! Thoughts, impressions?

Speaking of space weather.... http://www.spaceweather.com

true enough, but sun and moon are two biggies... I'm just curious as to influences!

I just wished to generate some discussion and see what people thought of the subject in general. For instance, would it be proper to not practice in the times of a CME? I'm sure it has an effect on the magnetosphere...

Cool pic of this last entire solar cycle, courtesy of soho...1996-2006, anticlockwise...

And a movie of it

What do you think of Sun gazing practice the guy lives off sunlight and water doesnt even eat?
great pics!

Hira Ratan Manek was caught laying cable at one point, so there's a lot of doubt as to whether or not he's legit. Many have followed his system and not had any progress towards inedia.

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/05/25/2012-no-planet-x/

If there was a planet x, we would have clearly detected it by now.

From what I understand, we'll just be coming in line with the galactic plane in 2012, nothing more. I dont recall predictions about solar activity this next cycle, but I do recall reading that the sun will be trending down with respect to sunspots in the next couple cycles, which should lead to some cooling for us...

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0811...ic-portals.html

Strange Portal Connects Earth to Sun
By Jeanna Bryner
Senior Writer
posted: 03 November 2008
08:22 am ET

Like giant, cosmic chutes between the Earth and sun, magnetic portals open up every eight minutes or so to connect our planet with its host star.

Once the portals open, loads of high-energy particles can travel the 93 million miles (150 million km) through the conduit during its brief opening, space scientists say.

Called a flux transfer event, or FTE, such cosmic connections not only exist but are possibly twice as common as anyone ever imagined, according to space scientists who attended the 2008 Plasma Workshop in Huntsville, Ala., last week.

"Ten years ago I was pretty sure they didn't exist, but now the evidence is incontrovertible," said David Sibeck, an astrophysicist at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Dynamic bursts

Researchers have long known that the Earth and sun must be connected. For instance, particles from the sun are constantly whisked away via the solar wind and often follow magnetic field lines that connect the sun's atmosphere with terra firma. The field lines allow particles to penetrate Earth's magnetosphere, the magnetic bubble that surrounds our planet.

"We used to think the connection was permanent and that solar wind could trickle into the near-Earth environment anytime the wind was active," Sibeck said. "We were wrong. The connections are not steady at all. They are often brief, bursty and very dynamic."

Several speakers at the workshop outlined the formation of a flux transfer event. One idea is that on the side of Earth facing the sun, our magnetic field presses against the sun's magnetic field. And about every eight minutes, the two fields briefly reconnect, forming a portal through which particles can flow. The portal takes the form of a magnetic cylinder about as wide as Earth.

Sibeck said to think of the FTE as a giant rolling pin that lies flat along the boundary between the Earth's and sun's magnetic fields. (He noted the rolling pin would have to be malleable so it could pierce through both magnetic fields while lying flat.)

"These FTEs kind of look like roller pins, and they form as little blob roller pins at the tip of the magnetosphere facing the sun," Sibeck told SPACE.com. "They can't decide which way they're going to slide around the Earth, so they grow there into big roller pins and then they take off and sort of spirally roll along [Earth's magnetosphere] like you're pounding out dough."

More than one FTE can form at once, he said, and they stay open for about 15 to 20 minutes.

More to learn

In order to measure such FTEs, spacecraft must not only catch them forming but also be on either end of the magnetic structures (either lengthwise or widthwise). In fact, the European Space Agency's fleet of four Cluster spacecraft and NASA's five THEMIS probes have flown through and surrounded these cylinders, measuring their dimensions and sensing the particles that shoot through, Sibeck said. While these measurements have nailed down the width of an FTE, the length is still uncertain though one measurement put it at up to five Earth radii. One Earth radius is about 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers).

Astrophysicist Jimmy Raeder of the University of New Hampshire used those measurements to develop computer simulations of the portals. He found the cylindrical portals tend to form above Earth's equator and then in December, the FTEs would roll over the North Pole. In July, they roll over the South Pole.

Sibeck thinks the events occur twice as often as previously thought, proposing two types of flux transfer events — active and passive.

When the magnetic cylinders are active, they allow particles to flow through rather easily, forming important conduits of energy for Earth's magnetosphere, Sibeck said. When passive, the cylinders have more resistance to transiting particles. The internal structure of a passive cylinder makes it tougher for particles and magnetic fields to flow through. Sibeck has calculated the properties of passive FTEs and hopes he and his colleagues will hunt for signs of them in data collected with THEMIS and Cluster.

The space scientists at the workshop still want to figure out why the portals form every eight minutes and how magnetic fields inside the cylinders twist and coil.

NASA PAGE

A Giant Breach in Earth's Magnetic Field

Dec. 16, 2008: NASA's five THEMIS spacecraft have discovered a breach in Earth's magnetic field ten times larger than anything previously thought to exist. Solar wind can flow in through the opening to "load up" the magnetosphere for powerful geomagnetic storms. But the breach itself is not the biggest surprise. Researchers are even more amazed at the strange and unexpected way it forms, overturning long-held ideas of space physics.

"At first I didn't believe it," says THEMIS project scientist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This finding fundamentally alters our understanding of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction."

The magnetosphere is a bubble of magnetism that surrounds Earth and protects us from solar wind. Exploring the bubble is a key goal of the THEMIS mission, launched in February 2007. The big discovery came on June 3, 2007, when the five probes serendipitously flew through the breach just as it was opening. Onboard sensors recorded a torrent of solar wind particles streaming into the magnetosphere, signaling an event of unexpected size and importance.

"The opening was huge—four times wider than Earth itself," says Wenhui Li, a space physicist at the University of New Hampshire who has been analyzing the data. Li's colleague Jimmy Raeder, also of New Hampshire, says "1027 particles per second were flowing into the magnetosphere—that's a 1 followed by 27 zeros. This kind of influx is an order of magnitude greater than what we thought was possible."

The event began with little warning when a gentle gust of solar wind delivered a bundle of magnetic fields from the Sun to Earth. Like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around a big clam, solar magnetic fields draped themselves around the magnetosphere and cracked it open. The cracking was accomplished by means of a process called "magnetic reconnection." High above Earth's poles, solar and terrestrial magnetic fields linked up (reconnected) to form conduits for solar wind. Conduits over the Arctic and Antarctic quickly expanded; within minutes they overlapped over Earth's equator to create the biggest magnetic breach ever recorded by Earth-orbiting spacecraft.



Above: A computer model of solar wind flowing around Earth's magnetic field on June 3, 2007. Background colors represent solar wind density; red is high density, blue is low. Solid black lines trace the outer boundaries of Earth's magnetic field. Note the layer of relatively dense material beneath the tips of the white arrows; that is solar wind entering Earth's magnetic field through the breach.


The size of the breach took researchers by surprise. "We've seen things like this before," says Raeder, "but never on such a large scale. The entire day-side of the magnetosphere was open to the solar wind."

The circumstances were even more surprising. Space physicists have long believed that holes in Earth's magnetosphere open only in response to solar magnetic fields that point south. The great breach of June 2007, however, opened in response to a solar magnetic field that pointed north.

"To the lay person, this may sound like a quibble, but to a space physicist, it is almost seismic," says Sibeck. "When I tell my colleagues, most react with skepticism, as if I'm trying to convince them that the sun rises in the west."

Here is why they can't believe their ears: The solar wind presses against Earth's magnetosphere almost directly above the equator where our planet's magnetic field points north. Suppose a bundle of solar magnetism comes along, and it points north, too. The two fields should reinforce one another, strengthening Earth's magnetic defenses and slamming the door shut on the solar wind. In the language of space physics, a north-pointing solar magnetic field is called a "northern IMF" and it is synonymous with shields up!


"So, you can imagine our surprise when a northern IMF came along and shields went down instead," says Sibeck. "This completely overturns our understanding of things."

Northern IMF events don't actually trigger geomagnetic storms, notes Raeder, but they do set the stage for storms by loading the magnetosphere with plasma. A loaded magnetosphere is primed for auroras, power outages, and other disturbances that can result when, say, a CME (coronal mass ejection) hits.

The years ahead could be especially lively. Raeder explains: "We're entering Solar Cycle 24. For reasons not fully understood, CMEs in even-numbered solar cycles (like 24) tend to hit Earth with a leading edge that is magnetized north. Such a CME should open a breach and load the magnetosphere with plasma just before the storm gets underway. It's the perfect sequence for a really big event."

Sibeck agrees. "This could result in stronger geomagnetic storms than we have seen in many years."