In the galactic scheme of things, the Sun is a remarkably constant star. While some stars exhibit dramatic pulsations, wildly yo-yoing in size and brightness, and sometimes even exploding, the luminosity of our own sun varies a measly 0.1% over the course of the 11-year solar cycle.How it is possible that other star exhibit dramatic pulsations, wildly yo-yoing in size and brightness, and sometimes even exploding,but the luminosity of our own sun varies a measly 0.1% over the course of the 11-year solar cycle? Greg Kopp of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, pointed out that while the variations in luminosity over the 11-year solar cycle amount to only a tenth of a percent of the suns total output, such a small fraction is still important. Even typical short term variations of 0.1% in incident irradiance exceed all other energy sources (such as natural radioactivity in Earths core) combined, he says. science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/08jan_sunclimate/
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 05:27:14 +0000
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