sunscare: scientists worry more than solar minimum at hand

Is it only fear-mongering over new observations in article at Before It's News, "Shocked Scientists Ask: Is the Sun Dying?" The solar system is, after all, coursing through relatively unknown region of the galactic ecliptic and sun may be affected in unpredictable ways? The article is, still, of great interest as a regional space weather report, offering a sort of local forecast!  Scientists concerns are threefold: 1) sun's core of hydrogen gases is shrinking, and presents concern, helium gases will be used instead as fuel. Helium would transform Sun into a Red giant. Scientists believed, previously, this phase of Sun's lifespan still billions of years in future.

2) The Sun has been cooling since 1979. Scientists were shaken when a predicted warming trend did not materialize in 2007. The cooling trend is drawing comparisons to the Maunder Minimum, a mini-ice age of the late 1700s. David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL sums up agreement among scientists in Scientific American article, "I think we're almost in violent agreement that this is an interesting minimum". The Sun's so-called "Great Conveyor Belt" has slowed to a crawl, which affects future solar activity. The solar wind, is also, 13 percent cooler and 20 percent less dense. The Sun's heliosphere is shrinking, offering less protection from Cosmic rays.

Perhaps, most alarmist of all, 3) Scientists are concerned about radioactive decay rates speeding up and possibility matter itself is being mutated? Wow! The article concludes with a fitting description and picture of a solar system without its first four planets, vaporized by our Red giant Sun! The present writer believes most readers suffer a degree of fear-fatigue and take a flamethrower in their face to get their attention! It's still a very interesting read!

your solarcast: dalton minimum repeat

The lack of sunspot activity seems to support predictions of cold temperatures? Anthony Watts, in an article at Watts Up With That?, predicts a repeat of a Dalton Minimum. Watts recaps solar cycle expert David Archibald's graphs. What is a Dalton Minimum and its weather implications? "The Dalton Minimum was a period of low solar activity, named after the English meteorologist John Dalton, lasting from about 1790 to 1830. Like the Maunder Minimum and Spörer Minimum, the Dalton Minimum coincided with a period of lower-than-average global temperatures. The Oberlach Station in Germany, for example, experienced a 2.0°C decline over 20 years. The Year Without a Summer, in 1816, also occurred during the Dalton Minimum," writes Watts. Archibald also examines interplanetary magnetic field strength. A weaker interplanetary magnetic field means more cosmic rays reach our planet. The measure is taken by a neutron count and it is higher than the previous solar minimum. It seems, yet, another blow delivered to the global warming agenda. This is your solarcast for late 2010.