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HIAWATHA VALLEY 10-X CHAPTER
SUN. 2000 local 28.750 MHz
WB0PTB 10-10# 13948
10-X members can now obtain a copy of the
new 10-X Certificate/Net directory by
sending an SASE to Chuck Albrecht, WA0YNQ 265 S. Cook St. Denver Colo. 80210.
Readings for January
High | Low | Average | |
Solar Flux | 81 | 71 | 77 |
A-Index | 22 | 3 | 7.6 |
March forecast: Things are beginning to
happen on old Sol. Average readings for
the Solar flux will be 85 and the A-Index
will be around 10. Look for conditions to
really pick up between March 10-26.
SUN SPOTS. WHAT ARE THEY?
A sunspot is a magnetic disturbance on
the surface of the sun. The, spot appears
to be black due to its being cooler than
rhesurrounding area. Sunspots are found
only near the equator of the sun. A sun-
spot cycle starts South and North of the
equator and the activity gradually moves
toward the equator as the cycle maxima is
reached.
We all know about the sunspot cycles, but
did you ever wonder what causes the spots
to come in cycles? To answer this, lets
look at some of the common cycles.
Sunspot cycle - 11 years
Magnetic polarity of spots -22 years
Cycle of cycles - 179 years
One explanation of the cycles is the
Solar tide. The Solar tide is just like
the tide the moon causes on Earth, except
many more planets affect the sun's tide.
The stronger tides occur when the planets
are either collinear or perpendicular to
each other. The planets with the most
effect on the Sun are Earth, Venus,
Mercury and Jupiter. Figure 1 shows the
recorded solar tide and solar flux since
1900 (cycles 21 and 22 are predictions).
these graphs show a very close relation
between solar flux and solar tide.
Since the cycle 21 maximum predicted for
1982 is coming up, I will concentrate on
the solar tide that peaks in 1982. In 1982
the nine planets of our solar system will
be collinear, a cycle that occurs only
every 179 years. This cycle is common to
both the solar system and the sun. The
cycles of the sun seem to repeat them-
selves every 179 years. For example,
cycle 20 had the same peak as cycle 4, 179
years ago.
The planets might be what we should look
at to predict propagation.
Coming up next: What will cycle 21 really
be like?