Galactic Weather

[jj111]

Just a thought; The Solar System might have different seasons like the Earth, relative to the Galaxy. It takes 225 Million years for the Solar System to complete an orbit of the Galaxy, the weather systems through-out the galaxy are most likely just as diverse as they are here with a few additions, (Radiation, Solar Winds, etc.)<br />Can anyone suggest a source for research on Galactic Weather? <br />

 

[qso1]

I don't think anyone has ever considered solar systems, stellar systems, or the galaxy to have weather systems until recently. I recall seeing an article about solar system weather somewhere. I thought here at SDC but didn't find it when I looked.<br /><br />On seasons however. Its probably too early to tell what would constitute a season where weather in space is concerned. Seasons here on earth, even mars are directly related to the distance each planet is from the sun at certain times of the year and the suns effects on each planets atmospheres. This of course, is not restricted to earth and mars.<br /><br />A season for space weather...such as solar wind, is dependant on an entirely different set of circumstances. And as you mentioned, we would probably see a diversity of stellar weather systems. The question then might be...does the galaxy itself have a system that could be termed a weather system in the same sense as its known for the sun and stars? Keeping in mind that the term weather as applied to space is quite a bit different as the term is applied to weather on earth. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[jj111]

Weather may be a bit local on the planetary scale. While we lack a better term and definition, I believe the Galactic Weather our Solar System encounters throught-out the Galaxy directly affects the planets within this System and others we may come in close proximity to.<br /><br />Many people jump on the Global Warming bandwagon when this planet hits a pot hole on the weather front. We can not blame Global Warming entirely on ourselves. Even though it was possibly not recorded by humans the cycles of this planets weather are traceable through geology and the planet has endured drought, floods, fire and ice, all while we weren't even here. This is an important reason to look at the possibilty of Galactic Weather.<br /><br />In order to define a weather system within this Galaxy might become very cumbersome but still extremely valuable on too many levels to count here. <br /><br />I have done little research to define Galactic Weather and have found an emense amount of info of Solar Wind, Magnetism and Radiation. There is very little information regarding interstellar winds. Voyager II is the next step towards finding more information regarding Interstellar Weather. If anyone has any suggestions for further research please let me know.

 

[qso1]

On a local scale, people associate weather with winds, rains, hot or cold days etc. Effects readily discernable. Weather as I understand it relating to space would be solar wind, radiation. I don't know and I don't know if the scientific community actually has any theories on galactic weather.<br /><br />At this point, galactic weather as it relates to earthly global warming would be very difficult to prove or even come up with a cohesive theory for without better data. As you mentioned, Voyager II is the next step towards that end.<br /><br />My own thoughts and thats all they are, tend to suggest to me that galactic weather may play a role but solar weather and earths own weather largely overwhelm galactic weather. But thats something that better research would have to prove. If there is a galactic weather system if you will, the speeds at which events occur are likely to be on a galactic scale...sloooooow. The galaxy is comprised of stars, a black hole at the center seems to be at the heart of most galaxies. between the stars and gasses and planets is an awful lot of empty space or as recent studies suggest, dark matter. It would seem that any weather is confined to localities such as the star systems etc. And that the only way we might encounter such weather systems is by passing close to an interstellar system. The gravitational problems alone that would result from such an encounter would produce effects we could document if the passage is close enough and if any closer, we might not survive.<br /><br />As for earthly global warming. I think the evidence for it is there. But the evidence is not strong enough to conclude its resulting solely from human activity. Something as benign relatively speaking, as a slight change in the suns energy output could increase global temperatures that correspond to a miniscule energy output. Global warming may be a natural cycle that would be connected largely to solar activity and its effects on earths weather due to what the sun d <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

I don't think galactic weather is studied much, but local space weather is a hot topic. It is extremely important to satellite operators and even terrestrial operations. It'll get bigger as the next solar maximum approaches; it's predicted to be a doozy.<br /><br />Here's a website about space weather. I check it every day. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> It includes geomagnetic storm forecast information.<br /><br />SpaceWeather.com <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Thanks, I agree that galactic weather hasn't been studied much. At least I havn't seen much on it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[jj111]

Thanks for the site, I found it very interesting. You both are right, there is very little in the amount of research on this subject. The information needed is there even though it is quite a minute amount. I will start digging and keep you informed as to the findings.

 

[search]

Great CalliArcale<br />I liked the Solar sounds

 

[search]

Back to the original question:<br /><br />Galactic weather:<br /><br />Some extreme weather phenomena (most in the solar system):<br />http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060703_wild_weather_top10.html<br /><br />[123.06] Stormy Weather in Galaxy Clusters<br /><br />J. O. Burns (U. Missouri)<br />Clusters of galaxies appear to possess an unexpectedly complex environment, driven by on-going accretion of matter from large scale supercluster filaments. X-ray, optical, and radio data along with N-Body/Hydrodynamical simulations will be presented which reveal "stormy weather" within the intracluster medium (ie, shocks, turbulence, and />1000 km/sec winds). This weather is most dramatic following the merger between two clusters. It is proposed that this weather is responsible for shaping the rich variety of extended radio sources in clusters (eg, U and V shaped tailed sources), which in turn act as "barometers" of cluster weather.<br /><br />This research was supported by grants from the NSF (AST-9317596 and AST-9616132) and NASA (NAGW-3152).<br /><br />I know that your question is more complex than this but I doubt there is serious studies on Glactic Weather but I will search for more...