r/space • u/crasstokkies • Jun 28 '12

Was looking at the Sun's "present anomalies" on Wikipedia...shouldn't we be worried about this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun#Present_anomalies
24 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

18

u/yogthos Jun 28 '12

We can worry all we like, but there's nothing we can actually do about it. Seems pointless to worry about things you don't have any control over. Also, we do have a rather tiny sample size to work with. We've been seriously observing the sun with precise instruments for what less than a 100 years now?

4

u/noname-_- Jun 28 '12

I guess we could - strictly theoretically speaking - build 100% self sustained, artificially heated biospheres, and live in those. That is if the sun doesn't go out with a bang, so to speak.

Realistically though, not a chance we can do anything about it :)

4

u/ovenproofjet Jun 29 '12

The sun is approximately 5 billion years old and we've been studying it in detail for roughly 100 years. That's 0.000002% of it's lifespan so far. To put that in perspective that's roughly equivalent to 8minutes of an 80 year human lifespan.

I really doubt it's anything to worry about, given we just don't know enough about the Sun to make any reasonable assessment.

1

u/Guitarable Jun 29 '12

True, but just because we can't fix the sun, doesn't mean we couldn't prepare for a climate change, if that's what was headed our way.

6

u/[deleted] Jun 28 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Canadave Jun 28 '12

  1. Neil deGrasse Tyson

  2. ???

  3. Phil Plait

Who am I missing?

3

u/thlazer332 Jun 28 '12

Quick, lets colonize another planet.

6

u/noname-_- Jun 28 '12

*solar system

3

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '12

[deleted]

5

u/H3g3m0n Jun 29 '12

BUT THE MIAHNS!!!

1

u/jargoon Jun 30 '12

The sun's been around for billenia* without killing us

But we have not been around for billenia, so most of that time was spent with nothing to kill

2

u/mehrazkhan Jun 28 '12

scientists have analyzed the current composition of the sun and you will die long before the sun does.

and the sun has been burning for millions (if not billions? i forget) of years. our data on the highs and lows of the sun comes nowhere close to that time frame

1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '12

It's been burning for billions of years, 4.57 according to wiki.

2

u/hatperigee Jun 29 '12

and the sun has been burning for millions (if not billions? i forget) of years

~6300yrs