Solar Activities and Their Biological Effects

7/31/2019 Solar Activities and Their Biological Effects

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Solar Activities and Their

Biological Effects


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Why are studies of Suns activity

important ?

The Climate Connection The Sun - source of light and heat for life on Earth.

The quantity and quality of light from the Sun varies on

time scales from milli-seconds to billions of years

- how these changes influence climate on Earth.


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Space Weather

Solar wind - a flow of gases from the Sun that streams past the Earth at speedsof more than 500 km per second (a million miles per hour). Disturbances in

the solar wind shake the Earth's magnetic field and pump energy into theradiation belts.

Potential hazards

ultraviolet light and x-rays heat up Earth's upper atmosphere - can change the orbits ofsatellites and shorten mission lifetimes.

excess radiation can physically damage satellites and pose a threat to astronauts.

shaking Earth's magnetic field can cause current surges in power lines that destroy equipment

and knock out power over large areas.

The Sun as a Star

serves an important role in understanding the rest of the astronomicaluniverse.

The Sun as a Physical Laboratory

Nuclear physics reproducing the process of nuclear fusion involve extremelyhot plasmas in strong magnetic fields. Much of solar astronomy involvesobserving and understanding plasmas under similar conditions. Therecontinues to be much interaction between solar astronomers and scientificresearchers in this and many other areas.


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Big Questions About the Sun

The Coronal Heating Process The Sun's outer atmosphere (the Corona) is hotter than

1,000,000C (1,800,000F) while the visible surface has atemperature of only about 6000C (10,000F).

The Nature of Solar Flares Areas on the Sun near sunspots blasting billions of tons of

material into space as coronal mass ejections (CME).

The Origin of the Sunspot Cycle 11 years cycle - the number of sunspots seen on the Sun

increases from nearly zero to over 100 and then decreases tonear zero again as the next cycle starts.

The Missing Neutrinos The Sun should produce more than twice as many neutrinos

than are observed.


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Solar Flares

Reasons to study them Influence on climate Potential hazards to space missions

NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center , through NASA OfficialGordon D. Holman of the Heliophysics ScienceDivision, defines a solar flare as,

a sudden, rapid, and intense variation inbrightness. A solar flare occurs when magneticenergy that

has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenlyreleased. As the magnetic energy is being released,particles, including electrons, protons, and heavy nuclei,are heated and accelerated in the solar atmosphere.


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What happens during the Suns 11-year

cycle?

The Sun goes through its 11-yearcycle, wherein the suns magnetic energy

increases, causing a solar flare. Holman addsthat the energy released during a flare is tenmillion times greater than energy releasedfrom a volcanic explosion. On the other hand,a solar flare is less than one-tenth of the totalenergy emitted by the Sun every second.


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It is not known exactly what triggers sucheruptions, but they are associated with strongmagnetic fields, and emanate from sunspots,which are cooler regions of the Sun thatcorrespond to bottled-up magnetic energy.

It must be a combination of the magnetic fieldstrength and the magnetic configuration that

will allow field lines to be opened and hencethe release of gas


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Coronal Mass Ejections Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are eruptions into

interplanetary space of as much as a few billion tons

of plasma and embedded magnetic fields from the Sun's

corona.

CMEs can occur at any time during the solar cycle, but their

occurrence rate increases with increasing solar activity and

peaks around solar maximum. CMEs are propelled outward

at speeds ranging from


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Filaments

Filaments are elongated coronal features

composed of relatively dense material atchromospheric temperatures.

They may erupt, and this often leads to a CME

and to an associated flare-like structure ofenormous scale


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The Biological Effects

Solar flares through their extreme magneticeffects affect the central nervous system, brainactivity and equilibrium (balance), our thoughtpatterns, human behaviours, mental-emotional-

physical response. Therefore solar flares cancause humans and all living beings to be nervous,anxious, worrisome, jittery, dizzy, shaky for thosewho are super sensitive, irritable, lethargic,

exhausted, short memory lost, heart palpitationfor those with weak heart, regular pressure onthe head and headaches.


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On a cellular level, solar flares and photon waveshave a powerful effect on our bodies and canheat our core up rather fast, causing hot

flashes. Other emotions hidden and stored in ourcells from past experiences and traumas arestored as cellular memories and can findthemselves erupting to the surface during strong

magnetic field interactions. This is why we mayfind ourselves releasing these emotions ofsadness and grief without knowing why.

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Solar Activities and Their Biological Effects