This is nothing major -- it happens every eleven years. Sure interesting though.
From Watts Up With That:
The sun is about to have a flipping magnetic field reversal Something big is about to happen on the sun. According to measurements from NASA-supported observatories, the sun�s vast magnetic field is about to flip.
�It looks like we�re no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal,� says solar physicist Todd Hoeksema of Stanford University. �This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system.�
A new ScienceCast video anticipates the reversal of the sun�s global magnetic field. The sun�s magnetic field changes polarity approximately every 11 years. It happens at the peak of each solar cycle as the sun�s inner magnetic dynamo re-organizes itself. The coming reversal will mark the midpoint of Solar Cycle 24. Half of �Solar Max� will be behind us, with half yet to come.
Hoeksema is the director of Stanford�s Wilcox Solar Observatory, one of the few observatories in the world that monitor the sun�s polar magnetic fields. The poles are a herald of change. Just as Earth scientists watch our planet�s polar regions for signs of climate change, solar physicists do the same thing for the sun. Magnetograms at Wilcox have been tracking the sun�s polar magnetism since 1976, and they have recorded three grand reversals�with a fourth in the offing.
This four minute video gives a lot more information. The sun is solidly in a cool phase.
Posted by DaveH at August 5, 2013 8:49 PM