The sun's magnetic field is about to flip

NASA report something big is about to happen on the sun. According to measurements from NASA-supported observatories, the sun's vast magnetic field is about to flip.

"It looks like we're no more than 3 to 4 months away from a complete field reversal," says solar physicist Todd Hoeksema of Stanford University. "This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system."

The sun's magnetic field changes polarity approximately every 11 years. It happens at the peak of each solar cycle as the sun's inner magnetic dynamo re-organizes itself. The coming reversal will mark the midpoint of Solar Cycle 24. Half of 'Solar Max' will be behind us, with half yet to come.

Full story - http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/05aug_fieldflip/

Radio hams get access to 18m EME dish

A huge tracking dish is to become available for amateur radio EME operation on 432 MHz

The InfoAge Science History Museum in Wall Township, New Jersey, plans to make a 60 foot tracking dish antenna available to hams for moonbounce, secondary to its function as a radiotelescope.

It was on the InfoAge site, then part of Fort Monmouth, that the US Army’s “Project Diana” team in 1946 first received radio signals bounced from the moon.

According to InfoAge’s Martin Flynn, W2RWJ, Daniel Marlow, K2QM, an InfoAge board member who teaches physics at Princeton, wants to use the dish, currently under rehabilitation after being dormant since the 1970s, to pursue radio astronomy for instructional purposes.

Marlow’s primary goal is to restore the TLM-18 dish antenna to working order and use it to see the 21 centimeter radiation from the Milky Way. But he also wants to observe radio pulsars, and since that activity can be performed at 70 centimeters, the TLM-18 will be made available to the Amateur Radio community for EME at 432 MHz on a secondary basis.

ARRL story - http://www.arrl.org/news/huge-tracking-dish-to-become-available-for-eme

Vintage Newsreel of Project Diana Earth-Moon-Earth - http://www.southgatearc.org/news/march2013/vintage_newsreel_of_project_diana_earth_moon_earth.htm

The dangers of lithium batteries

Lithium batteries are undoubtedly popular going by their wide use in consumer products, and even higher powered models in electric vehicles. However they have been linked to fires, illicit drug makers and medical problems.

The recent death of a toddler in Queensland, Australia and others injured after swallowing them, has again focused attention on the common power source.

From January 2013 stricter regulations for the carriage of Lithium batteries by air travellers were introduced - best check with your airline for the rules.

A battery can also be a convenient source of lithium metal used in illegal methamphetamine laboratories. Sales of larger quantities are restricted for this reason in some areas.

International industry standards for button batteries are soon to be introduced as an urgent safety measure.

These are likely to include strengthened consumer education about the dangers and child-restraint packaging for the cell batteries.