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Sunday, December 15, 2013

Reverse The Polarity Of The Electromagnetic Flow

That, up there, is a rather labored Doctor Who reference, but it's also something you might be affected by in the near future. The Sun reverses magnetic polarity about once every 11 years- we're not sure quite why- and its latest reversal is slated to happen within the next three, four months. The magnetic field will slowly weaken, go down to zero, and then reverse course. This specific reversing has its north pole changing to a south polarity before the south pole changes to north, meaning for now, the Sun effectively has two South Poles.

As it happens every 11 years, you should be able to tell that it won't do anything too major to the planet; however, there will be some geomagnetic storms as a result, which might screw with some satellites and inconvenience any electronic devices you might have on hand. Not bricking or anything; should just be the odd blackout. You'll also be able to see the Northern Lights more easily, if you're far enough north for that to be a reasonable possibility.

After all, lots of planets have a north.

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