NASA predicts that the Sun will reverse its own magnetic poles during 2012 as result of reaching the end of the current 11-year sunspot cycle.

so... what's that going to do exactly?

this is mostly to quiet my archiologist freind who believes that the reversal will either affect the planet or redirect 433 Eros somehow.

bah, damn the Mayans and their excellent calculations for making tons of people worry about some coming end of mankind.

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wisdom is not given, it is earned

The sun has been reversing its magnetic poles about every eleven years for as long as we have been able to measure it.

Have you ever noticed an effect?

We'll see some activity on the sun. Astronomers will get some interesting data. That's about it. Here's a page on the last time it happened:

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast15feb_1.htm

There's no way it's going to move asteroids or cause an apocalypse.

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I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

And while the Mayans were great naked-eye astronomers, there is no evidence that they knew anything about sunspots or the solar magnetic field, and there is no evidence that they believed the turn-over in their calendar would lead to anything bad (it is not an end, anymore than 1999/2000 was the "end" of our calender).

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

The Sun's magnetic polarity is more superficial than one might think. In March of 2000, the north and south pole regions had the same polarity; the south pole magnetic polarity had migrated toward the equator. By May, it had returned. Then in 2001, the poles reversed polarity.

But it is still a 11 year cycle, apparently.

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

"The mean of five measures each of which is not worth a dang (sinc), has a maximum value of only five dangs (sinc)". Heber Curtis

"(sinc)" - spelling is not correct (in its orginal form) :)

Interesting year.

2003 no, 2012 si
2012
Pole shift / Planetary alignment 2012?
2012 alignment question
about the Mayan 2012 item
2012 Debunking?
Possible asteroid impact in 2012?
2012 asteroid?
We don't have to worry about 2012!
More on 2012 from India Daily
2012 Completion of conspiracy?
Here's what's REALLY going to happen in 2012...
crop circles, Planet X and 2012
Planet X, crop circles and 2012 cataclysma
According to the Mayans, what will happen on 23rd Dec. 2012?
More 2012 Nonsense
NEO 2012?
Dangerous NEO in 2012?
Christmas 2012
2012 mayan calender end of world
Regarding the supposed polar shift/new ice age in 2012
New 2012 threat?
2012 look at this thing on the sun
Russian Expert Predicts Global Cooling from 2012
Pole shift idea origins
Dec 20 2012
2012 Stuff
Horizon Project-New End of World Scare?
Date: December 21st 2012
Earth passing thru Galactic center in 2012 - didn't that already happen?
2012: What do you think well happen (if anything)
So what will we see in 2012?
Galactic Tsunami?
Plane of the ecliptic of the galaxy?
Earth's Magnetic Field & 2012
2012?
Any truth to this?
How can the sun be aligned with Galactic centre?
the whole 2012 poles flip nonsense
Planet X Official Advertisement
What year are we in
Quick question about the sun

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Is there a term for this neospam questioning of 2012?

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

"The mean of five measures each of which is not worth a dang (sinc), has a maximum value of only five dangs (sinc)". Heber Curtis

"(sinc)" - spelling is not correct (in its orginal form) :)

It's the end of the world.

@ 01101001
You might have to change your user ID to 11111011100, the way you keep that list up.

Seriously, we might as well get used to it, I suspect it will only get worse over the next 5 years (think about the build-up to Planet X).

__________________
At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

They're Western Armagedonites, then?

The tension with the former Planet IX was bad enough!

__________________
Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

"The mean of five measures each of which is not worth a dang (sinc), has a maximum value of only five dangs (sinc)". Heber Curtis

"(sinc)" - spelling is not correct (in its orginal form) :)

So that's why Pluto went into retirement!

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"If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."
Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
"The Mayan symbol for "book" looks a lot like a triple hamburger, but I've never seen them claiming it as proof the Mayans had Big Macs." - KaiYeves
"Distance doesn’t matter much in space, where if you just start a thing off with the right kind of shove, sooner or later it will get where you want it to go." -Frederik Pohl, Mining the Oort

A quick, rough count from 01101001's list shows about 40 threads from 2003 on, with 15 threads so far in 2007. A low guess would be that there will be at least 100 threads through 2012, but I wouldn't be surprised at 200.

__________________
I say there is an invisible elf in my backyard. How do you prove that I am wrong?

Disclaimer: Avatar is not an official NASA image and does not imply any specific interplanetary or interstellar capability.

The Leif Ericson Cruiser

Hey, don't blame the Maya! Gibson's last movie trashed them enough. One king said his coronation day would still be celebrated in our year 4000 and something. No, blame the archeo-woos.

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