Some Thoughts on the Sun's Recent Outbursts

We are witnessing in real time the fact that stellar atmospheric dynamics
are much more complex than anyone admits to. The observed eleven year solar
cycle is so poorly understood that there are not many astrophysicists that
will make the claim that it can be adequately described with enough
resolution to make any presumptions really useful. It is fascinating to
note that the so-called "chance occurrences" of two near simultaneous events
we have witnessed are being described as "so low on the probability scale as
to be statistically impossible" - and yet, there they are in real time for
all to observe. It is difficult to imagine that it is we, out of all people
in all of history that are actually privy to once-in-a-stellar-lifetime
event. What is more likely is that we are witnessing common stellar
phenomenon that is so complex that we are unable to understand the
underlying process itself. It is also of some importance that we are also
probably onlookers to events that describe the true nature of a local star
for which we have little understanding. In this unsettling event, the
bottom line is that what we may be witnessing is a star of unexpected
complexity with a propensity to outbursts and relative instabilities we had
no prior knowledge of.



In the real world of stellar atmospheric dynamics, events occur in
thermonuclear reality, in subatomic subsets and in quantum regions, not
readily decipherable by classical descriptions. This is, in fact, the real
rub. As John Haldane has stated so accurately, "My own suspicion is that
not only is the universe queerer than we suppose, it is queerer than we can
suppose." In light of this reality, we need to drop the presupposition that
we have a handle on the Sun's stellar dynamics and begin to look it in a
magnitude of greater depth. I suspect there is a fundamental quantum effect
here that we have either overlooked or have not yet uncovered. It is
essential that we pour many more resources into this study. Not that we
will ever be able to do anything about it, but it would be useful to develop
an early warning system based on the sun's quantum output, perhaps beginning
with a careful look at what happened to the neutrino count several weeks ago
from Sudbury and extending to the outbursts itself. Now there is a data set
I would love to get my hands on! Just a thought..



Sean Steele

International Institute of Space Exploration

Space Studies Online

http://www.spaceinstitute.net