Could this be the first solar activity of Cycle 24? I hope so!

The solar physics community is abuzz this week. No, there haven't been any great eruptions or solar storms. The source of the excitement is a modest knot of magnetism that popped over the sun's eastern limb on Dec. 11th, pictured below in a pair of images from the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

It may not look like much, but "this patch of magnetism could be a sign of the next solar cycle," says solar physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center. For more than a year, the sun has been experiencing a lull in activity, marking the end of Solar Cycle 23, which peaked with many furious storms in 2000--2003.

"Solar minimum is upon us," he says.

Above: From SOHO, a UV-wavelength image of the sun and a map showing positive (white) and negative (black) magnetic polarities. The new high-latitude active region is magnetically reversed, marking it as a harbinger of a new solar cycle.

The big question now is, when will the next solar cycle begin? It could be starting now! "New solar cycles always begin with a high-latitude, reversed polarity sunspot," explains Hathaway. "Reversed polarity " means a sunspot with opposite magnetic polarity compared to sunspots from the previous solar cycle. "High-latitude" refers to the sun's grid of latitude and longitude. Old cycle spots congregate near the sun's equator. New cycle spots appear higher, around 25 or 30 degrees latitude. The region that appeared on Dec. 11th fits both these criteria. It is high latitude (24 degrees N) and magnetically reversed.

Just one problem: There is no sunspot. So far the region is just a bright knot of magnetic fields. If, however, these fields coalesce into a dark sunspot, scientists are ready to announce that Solar Cycle 24 has officially begun. Many forecasters believe Solar Cycle 24 will be big and intense. Peaking in 2011 or 2012, the cycle to come could have significant impacts on telecommunications, air traffic, power grids and GPS systems. (And don't forget the Northern Lights!) In this age of satellites and cell phones, the next solar cycle could make itself felt as never before.

The furious storms won't start right away, however. Solar cycles usually take a few years to build to a frenzy and Cycle 24 will be no exception. "We still have some quiet times ahead," says Hathaway. Meanwhile, all eyes are on a promising little active region. Will it become the first sunspot of a new solar cycle?

Stay tuned!

Today's Edition of Katy with a Y's favorite LOL Cats

Teddy? WTF???

So I was cleaning my room tonight, and I found my old teddy bear, "Teddy". I looked at him and thought, "What the hell happened to you???"

Let me tell you a couple of things about this teddy bear. First off... I still remember the first time I saw it. We were at a craft fair or flea market- something like that- and from the moment I laid eyes on Teddy... I knew I had to have him. The next thing I remember is throwing a complete hissy fit at my parents until they they agreed that it was worth $15 for me to shut up.

One more silly fun fact about me and teddy... I once tried playing hide-and-go-seek with just me and teddy. I hid him in the chest by our front door. I didn't find him again for over a month. What was my IQ at that age?? haha

I remember one incident for sure... my cousin's golden retriever, Sandy, got a hold of him once at the Cape house and gave him a good lickin'. However, WHEN THE FUCK DID HE GET AN AUTOPSY, HOW AND WHY???

Ideas? Theories? I'd love to hear them. Perhaps Teddy's sad history is buried deep in my subconscious... along with other childhood memories!!!

I'm giving a special award to whoever comes up with the best story!!!! (submissions due via blog comment 12/31/2007 11:59pm)

Today's Edition of Katy with a Y's favorite LOL Cats

Geminid Meteor Shower This Week!! Go outside and look up!!

Mark your calendar: The best meteor shower of 2007 peaks on Friday, December 14th.
"It's the Geminid meteor shower," says NASA astronomer Bill Cooke of the Marshall Space Flight Center. "Start watching on Thursday evening, Dec. 13th, around 10 pm local time," he advises. "At first you might not see very many meteors—but be patient. The show really heats up after midnight and by dawn on Friday, Dec. 14th, there could be dozens of bright meteors per hour streaking across the sky."

The Geminids are not ordinary meteors. While most meteor showers come from comets, Geminids come from an asteroid—a near-Earth object named 3200 Phaethon. How does an asteroid make a meteor shower? Comets do it by evaporating. When a comet flies close to the sun, intense heat vaporizes the comet’s "dirty ice" resulting in high-speed jets of comet dust that spew into interplanetary space. When a speck of this comet dust hits Earth's atmosphere traveling ~100,000 mph, it disintegrates in a bright flash of light—a meteor! Asteroids, on the other hand, don't normally spew dust into space—and therein lies the mystery. Where did Phaethon's meteoroids come from? One possibility is a collision. Maybe it bumped against another asteroid. A collision could have created a cloud of dust and rock that follows Phaethon around in its orbit. Such collisions, however, are not very likely.

If this scenario is correct, Phaethon-the-comet may have produced many rich streams of dust that spent hundreds or thousands of years drifting toward Earth until the first Geminid meteors appeared during the US Civil War. Since then, Geminids have been a regular shower peaking every year in mid-December.