Using Stars as Gravity Wave Telescopes...

Now this is just plain cool!

Scientists have come up with what appears to be a completely practical way to use a special kind of star (millisecond pulsars) to construct a grand telescope for gravity waves. This telescope would be far cheaper to construct than both already-built and proposed Earth-bound gravity wave detectors – and it would actually produce an “image” (something no Earth-bound detector could hope to do). In addition, it would work at some of the most interesting, and very low, frequencies. Read more in Science News and this paper...

Sunspots...

I've posted before about the unusually low number of sunspots we're seeing right now, and about the correlation between the number of sunspots and the overall solar radiation. It may seem a little counterintuitive, but the fact is that the sun radiates more energy when there are more sunspots, and vice versa.

Well, the low number of sunspots continues. At the moment we are experiencing the longest sustained period of low sunspot occurrence since 1928, and there's no end in sight yet. That also means we're experiencing a long and sustained reduction in solar radiation output, and therefore of its heating of the Earth. Historically periods of low sunspot activity have correlated nicely with periods of lower temperatures on the Earth, most famously with the period known as the Maunder Minimum. Naturally, the warmenists loudly proclaim that variations in sunspot activity will have no impact on the Earth's climate – they are certain that the correlations of historical low sunspot activity and low temperatures is entirely coincidental.

Looks like we may have a chance here to find out for sure. If our low sunspot activity continues for another year or so, the warmenists will have a hard time explaining a “coincidental” drop in global temperatures. Which, by the way, we're already seeing.

Baby Ground Squirrels...

In our back yard:


You can see a higher quality version on YouTube.