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Restlessness is over.The Sun has re-lighted itself according
to the rules and everything has re-enteredin the normalcy and a
new cycle is about tobegin.
The Sun returns therefore to perform,as in the past the
objectives of the satellites
American Trace, Japanese Hinode and Euro-pean SOHO of the
ESAhave documented.
Last Saturday a spot (number 1005)marked its surface and it was
the third onein three weeks; this means an indication of
a resumption of the activity.The sunspots , observed for the
first time by Galileo Galilei in 1611, are areas with a
lower temperature than photosphere and this is enough to make
them darker for contrast.They are always associated with strong
magnetic fields.
This activity involves us because the phe-nomenon of the spots
comes together with
flows of radiations and particles that theninvest the Earth
causing, when they are par-ticularly intense, the geomagnetic
storms on ourplanet; this means troubles and troubles to
thesatellites in orbit, to the systems of communi-cation and the
electric nets.
Its already happened and the cause is docu-mented.
The new spots mark the conclusion of theperiod of quietness that
the star was crossing in its eleven year periodic cycle in which a
mo-
ment of maximum activity followes one ofminimum.
The various solar cycles have had, ob-viously, different
characteristics: some havebeen calm others more intense.
The next one that is coming is antici-pated as moderated
according to the ex-perts of the Space Weather Predictionof the
National Oceanic and Atmos-pheric Administration.
Moderate, nevertheless, it has a veryrelative meaning because
spots and erup-tions, recorded by the satellites , have
dimensions that can contain a lot of
The Sun has re-lighteditself
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THE SUN OBSERVED IN THE 22ND MAY 2008
THE SUN WITH A CLOUD OF PLASMA
SUNSPOT SEEN TO WAVELENGTH H-ALPHA
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times our planet .So we can understand the power of the phe-
nomenons and the worry that their effects cansometimes create to
the life on the Earth.
But also to the astronauts that firmly so-journ by now on the
spatial station.
They are the first ones to be exposed and tosuffer possible
consequences.
Comment This article is about the Sun and his
"awakening" from the minimum grade of activ-ity that has almost
characterized it for thewhole year 2008, beating different records
of least precedents and arousing worry among the
researchers, that affirmed that ifthe solar minimum had
stillcontinued there would have beena cooling of the Earth.
Actually it is not really correctto say that the Sun is
recoveringfrom the minimum activity , in
fact in the preceding days somestains are observed, probably
ofthe new cycle and an upsurge ofthe solar wind, but the
solarradiation has now returned onvery low values; this shows
thatthe Sun is not definitely recov-ered and that the solar
mini-mum could still persist.
Bibliography Giovanni Caprara, Il Sole si riacceso, Il Corriere
della Sera, www.corriere.it/
scienze_e_tecnologie/08_ottobre_14/sole_attivit_acb7f302-99ff-11dd-a6f3-00144f02aabc.shtml,
RCS Quotidiani Spa, Milan, 14/10/2008
Iconography Images 01-05: Giovanni Caprara, Il Sole si riacceso,
Il Corriere della Sera,
www.corriere.it/scienze_e_tecnologie/08_ottobre_14/sole_attivit_acb7f302-99ff-11dd-a6f3-00144f02aabc.shtml,
RCS Quotidiani Spa, Milan, 14/10/2008FedericoPedicona
Liceo Boggio LeraCatania, Italy
[email protected]
History of Science and TechnologyEuropean Pupils Magazine
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A GREAT SOLAR EXPLOSION
DETAIL BROUGHT CLOSER OF THE MAGNETIC STRUCTURE OF THE
SOLAR SURFACE OBSERVED TO WAVELENGTH H-ALPHA
