Sun’s Magnetic Fields About to Flip

By: Zain Nabi  |   August 22nd, 2013   |   News

According to NASA, something really big is about to happen to the sun. The magnetic field that is found on earth is about to change its polarity in the next few months. North will be South! South will be North!

 

“It looks like we’re no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal,” says solar physicist Todd Hoeksema of Stanford University. “This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system.”

 

After every 11 years the sun changes the polarity of its magnetic field. At the time of the peak of each solar cycle the inner magnetic dynamo of the sun reorganizes itself. We are at the midpoint of Solar Cycle 24. Behind us is the half of solar max while the other half is yet to come.

 

Hoeksema is the director of Stanford’s Wilcox Solar Observatory; he is one of the few observatories in the world monitoring the polar magnetic fields of the sun. The poles are a sign of change. Just as for earth the scientists watch the polar regions of the planet when they are expecting any change in the climate; the same thing solar physicists do for the sun. Since 1976, Magnetograms at Wilcox have been working to track the polar magnetism of the sun; in their mission they have recorded three magnificent reversals of the sun – while the fourth one is in the offing.

 

Solar physicist Phil Scherrer, also at Stanford, describes what happens: “The sun’s polar magnetic fields weaken, go to zero, and then emerge again with the opposite polarity. This is a regular part of the solar cycle.”

 

The sun’s magnetic field reversal is always a big event for many. The two poles North and South will reverse soon in no more than three to four months. The scientists are keeping a close eye on the reversal of the sun’s magnetic field for more than two years or so. According to them, the next solar cycle compares to this will be relatively active one.

 

“The sun’s north pole has already changed significantly, while the South Pole is racing to catch up,” says Scherrer. “Soon, however, both poles will be reversed, and the second half of Solar Max will be underway.”