Sun Now More Active Than in a Millennium
KATLENBURG-LINDAU, Germany (UPI) -- A new study indicates the Sun is more active now than it has been for a millennium. New Scientist magazine said the study by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, and the University of Oulu in Finland, shows there have been far more sunspots since the 1940s than for the past 1,150 years.
Researcher Ilya Usoskin, an geophysicist, told New Scientist sunspot observations started during the early 17th century, when the telescope was invented. To extend the data farther back in time, Usoskin's team used a physical model to calculate past sunspot numbers from levels of a radioactive isotope preserved in ice cores taken from Greenland and Antarctica. New Scientist said the findings may stoke the controversy over the contribution of the Sun to global warming. And although Usoskin and his team are reluctant to be dragged into the debate, the magazine said their work will probably be noted by those who claim temperature rises during the past century are the result of changes in the Sun's output. The study appears in the journal Physical Review Letters.
KATLENBURG-LINDAU, Germany (UPI) -- A new study indicates the Sun is more active now than it has been for a millennium. New Scientist magazine said the study by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy in Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, and the University of Oulu in Finland, shows there have been far more sunspots since the 1940s than for the past 1,150 years.
Researcher Ilya Usoskin, an geophysicist, told New Scientist sunspot observations started during the early 17th century, when the telescope was invented. To extend the data farther back in time, Usoskin's team used a physical model to calculate past sunspot numbers from levels of a radioactive isotope preserved in ice cores taken from Greenland and Antarctica. New Scientist said the findings may stoke the controversy over the contribution of the Sun to global warming. And although Usoskin and his team are reluctant to be dragged into the debate, the magazine said their work will probably be noted by those who claim temperature rises during the past century are the result of changes in the Sun's output. The study appears in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Charles Mims
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