The black spot The sun is about to disappear?

The latest research by scientists found that, over the past 20 years, the magnetic fields of the black spots on the sun have been constantly declining. And with that trend, people may not be able to see it since 2016.

>>>Close to the black scene on the Sun.

The American Science newspaper quoted scientists as saying that this " goodbye " of the black spot on the Sun could last for at least 10 years. And this phenomenon once happened in the 17th century, the period of the lowest Earth temperature in history.

7 years later, the activity of black spots will decrease, the number will also decrease. Until the time when the number of black points reaches the lowest value (can reach 0) is called the minimum year of the Sun activity. And at this point is also the beginning of a new cycle.

Astronomers began to statistics the activity of the sunspot since 1755. According to this statistic, it is now the 24th solar cycle. The sub-number of black points in this 24th cycle ended completely last year.

However, what makes scientists feel weird is that, the time to reach the minimum value of the number of black points in the latest cycle has lasted more than 26 months, while usually they only last long. 16 months.

According to a new report submitted to the recent World Astronomical Society, the reason for such a minimum time of black spot is due to the magnetic field strength of the existing black spots. statue decreased.

Beginning in 1990, Matthew Penn William Livingston of the National Solar Observatory, located in Tucson, Arizona, has used a method called Zeeman splitting to study the magnetic field strength of the sunspot. . After conducting with 1500 black points, the two researchers concluded: The magnetic field strength of the black spot has decreased from 2700 gauss to 2000 gauss. Sicence thinks this is a remarkable point because the Earth's average magnetic field is less than 1 gauss.

Although, until now, the cause of the black field has not been determined yet, but according to Livingston's judgment, if this trend is maintained, by 2016, The magnetic field of the black spot will decrease to only 1500 gauss. It is worth mentioning that, 1500 gauss is the smallest value to produce black points so, at that time, the Sun's black spot may not exist anymore.

In the history of human development, this is not the first time this phenomenon has occurred. Between 1645 and 1715, the Sun's black spot was always in a "missing" state. This is also the period when Europe experienced tens of years of lower temperatures than normal, called the "ice age".

Livingston said, now it is announced that there will be no more black spots on the Sun. It is too early. Still have to continue to observe because the Sun cycle can change and come back at any time. However, it is clear that the Sun black spots are "not healthy ", the researcher added.