dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (01/31/86)
This from the 24 January issue of Science:
"Three independent measures of the brightness of the sun as seen from
Earth now show the same 0.02 percent per year decrease during at least
the past 5 years. Thus, as suspected in the early years of these
observations, the sun does seem to be fading. But it is fading too fast
for it it be part of a long-term change, so the decrease is presumed
linked to some well-known solar cycle, such as the 11-year sunspot cycle
or more probably the 22-year magnetic cycle. Over a decade or two, such
changes could affect climate."
And in a later paragraph: "There is an intriguing solar phenomenon that
could be involved. As recently suggested by Martin Woodward, now at
JPL, and Robert Noyes of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
in Cambridge, the sun seems to be expanding."
First Graham-Ruddman and now this!
--
D Gary Grady
Duke U Comp Center, Durham, NC 27706
(919) 684-3695
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