Upcoming TV special on the Sun - worth watching

 

Given that the sun is so quiet lately (click image - no sunspots) and there is talk of an ebb in its next solar cycle 24, it bears looking into the details of our primary climate driver.

 The National Geographic Channel has a TV special on the sun, sunspots, climate, etc. They interviewed several people involved in that debate. It includes interviews with Judith Lean, Leif Svalgaard, and others.

It will be shown on the National Geographic Channel. It’s titled: Naked Science ‘Solar Force’.

It goes out on Tuesday 30th October 2007 at 9pm ET and again at midnight ET.
It also rebroadcasts on Thursday 1st November 2007 at 10pm ET.

TV listings can be found on http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/ if you are interested.

UPDATE: description from the NGC website -

The suns energy seems to be constant, but this gigantic nuclear reactor is in a continual state of flux. National Geographic Channel (NGC) reveals the latest scientific information that is uncovering the hidden ways that fluctuations in the suns output influence our climate. See how a radical experiment supports the idea that the suns invisible cosmic rays may have a visible impact on our weather, and find out how a new NASA program could shed new light on how solar wind impacts Earth.

Things that go boom in the sky

Here’s something you don’t see every day; an exploding comet.  In fact the last time this comet did this was in 1892.

Comet 17P/Holmes is now larger than Jupiter. Astronomer Eric Allen of Quebec’s Observatoire du Cégep de Trois-Rivières combined images he captured on three consecutive nights (Oct. 25, 26 and 27) and placed them beside a picture of Jupiter scaled to the same distance as the comet, as shown above. More at www.spaceweather.com

The comet is visible to the naked eye, and looks even better through a telescope. This would be a good excuse to go visit the Chico Community Observatory in upper Bidwell Park Sunday night and have them swing the telescope by for a look. Or if you want to spot it yourself, here is a sky map.