Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kosh on October 21, 2008, 05:27:16 am
-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/3222476/Suns-protective-bubble-is-shrinking.html
Is this for real?
-
See? Another end of the world thread!
AEIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! :shaking:
-
So is it weakening all around, or just changing its shape or something?
I mean, wouldn't it require the whole thing to shut down (more or less) for the heliosphere to go very low?
-
It must be a cyclic phenomenon, I hard believe Sol is going ***** now.
-
Depends how long we've actually been able to measure the Heliosphere for to be honest, if we only have a decade or two's worth of data then this may well be a perfectly natural thing, without anything to compare it with, there's no way of knowing.
-
if we only have a decade or two's worth of data then this may well be a perfectly natural thing
Does that mean it won't kill us?
-
Well, if you read the article, the scientist said basically said it probably is a natural phenomnon, that it will stabilize or return to its old values, and that there is basically no real danger at the moment - no, the world wont die because of that.
-
The heliosphere is has been weakening slowly but steadily since we began monitoring it ~50 years ago, and the cause is the sun's solar wind losing temperature and density, and thus pressure. Whether this is an unusual phenomenon for the sun, or part of a cyclical pattern, is simply not known... a 50-year record for a ~5 billion year old star amounts to beans.
This weakening solar wind means we have a higher amount of galactic cosmic-rays entering the inner solar-system, which could cause problems for spacecraft and any humans who go to the moon or Mars, but since Earth has its own magnetic shielding and atmosphere, we will be quite fine. :)
Edit: It's also quite possible that the current extreme drop in the sun's magnetic field strength is related to the current solar cycle's minimum being more calm and long-lasting than usual. But there have been a few sunspots observed belonging to the new cycle so it's clear that it hasn't shut down or anything drastic like that.
-
Does that mean it won't kill us?
If it's a cycle over several hundred or even thousands of years then no, it won't, because it hasn't. If it's a one-off event then what, exactly, do we propose to do about it?
-
Break out our tinfoil hats?
-
Suns solar wind loosing temperature?
Funny, I recall debates a few months ago about global warming where some people claimed the Solar system was getting hotter. :P
so which one is it then? Hotter or colder? Can't be both.
-
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b319/Mistah_Kurtz/Worf_notagain.gif)
-
Break out our tinfoil hats?
Why tin foil?
-
I vote we move underground. We could probably dwell there a long long time after Sun has burned out, dwellign deeper and deeper towards the slowly dissipating compression heat of our planet...
And as the time allows, we can mount propulsion on our planet and be on our merry way to the next star. :lol:
-
I vote we move underground. We could probably dwell there a long long time after Sun has burned out, dwellign deeper and deeper towards the slowly dissipating compression heat of our planet...
And as the time allows, we can mount propulsion on our planet and be on our merry way to the next star. :lol:
We could always destroy the Sun, then use it to create a warp hole which will bring us to ... uh ... well ... somewhere.
-
I vote we move underground. We could probably dwell there a long long time after Sun has burned out, dwellign deeper and deeper towards the slowly dissipating compression heat of our planet...
And as the time allows, we can mount propulsion on our planet and be on our merry way to the next star. :lol:
Oh, wow! Then we can re-enact the PC game Arx Fatalis, and successfully reproduce an idiosyncratic constrol scheme via LARPing!
We could always destroy the Sun, then use it to create a warp hole which will bring us to ... uh ... well ... somewhere.
Oh, wow! Then we can re-enact EVE, and successfully reproduce a frustratingly complex and time-consuming MMO!
-
You're just full of joy and laughter, Rick.
-
I try to make the best of potential future post-apocalyptic environments.
-
Don't we all.
-
Does that mean it won't kill us?
If it's a cycle over several hundred or even thousands of years then no, it won't, because it hasn't. If it's a one-off event then what, exactly, do we propose to do about it?
Glacial Ages are also cyclic and I don't think they don't have terrible impacts of living species...
-
But it doesn't irradiate the planet either.
The fact is, assuming it is a cyclic event, there's no evidence of it having any impact of life on Earth whatsoever up to this point, so there's little evidence of it doing so this time round.
Edit: Seriously, the purpose of science is to answer questions, not to simply find more things to scare ourselves with, which seems to be what a large number of publications seem to think it is for.
-
This happens mostly because of movies intended to scare people with something plausible under a pseudo-scientific point of view. It's up to common people and scientists to treat movies as movies, not as prophecies.
-
Scientists tend to be ok, for the main part, though the commercialisation of Science really hasn't helped, you get more funding if people are scared. That's what has created the entire Global Warming quagmire, because both sides have some valid points.
As for movie-goers, I agree too many people seem to struggle finding the boundary between fact and fiction.
-
Scientists tend to be ok, for the main part, though the commercialisation of Science really hasn't helped, you get more funding if people are scared. That's what has created the entire Global Warming quagmire, because both sides have some valid points.
As for movie-goers, I agree too many people seem to struggle finding the boundary between fact and fiction.
Agreed. Fear sells publications and promises by politicians to fix whatever is scaring them buys votes.