The Manic-Depressive Sun

The sun, the earth's own star, is mildly manic-depressive, passing from quiet to excitement on a roughly eleven-year cycle. It is quiet now and getting quieter. So on Jan. 1, 1964 scientists of 50 nations will take advantage of the solar silence to start IQSY, the International Years of the Quiet Sun,* a study of the sun and its effects on the earth. Last week the National Academy of Sciences released an ambitious program for U.S. participation.

When Iksee gets going, the sun will be watched around the clock by all the souped-up instruments that have been proliferating in the world's observatories. Its face will be studied for signs of unborn sunspots being gestated under the surface. Satellites and other spacecraft will measure all kinds of solar radiation, ultraviolet and X rays, that do not penetrate the earth's atmosphere. The sun's visible spectrum will be dissected for any detectable signs of differences during the quiet period. The great tongues of flame that leap from the sun's surface will be counted and measured.

Bench Mark. The purpose of all this activity will be to establish a bench mark showing conditions on the earth, the sun and in the space in between during the sun's quietest time. During Iksee, most of the sun's effects on earth will not be noticed by nonscientific people, especially those who live in cities. There will be fewer auroras, which are caused by charged particles from the excited sun tangling with the top of the earth's atmosphere. There will be no magnetic storms to jam long-range communication, but radio amateurs will have to switch to lower frequencies because the ionized layers in the upper atmosphere will be thinner, letting the hams' shorter wave lengths escape into space.

For scientists, though, the Quiet Years will bring hundreds of changes worth close attention. Besides being less ionized, the upper atmosphere will probably contain less ozone, and its absence will probably change the temperature of the stratosphere, and the effect may reach all the way down to the ground. No one knows now what this will do--or whether it will do anything--to the actual climate of the earth's inhabited areas. To find out, the scientists will launch a stream of highflying balloons, fire volleys of rockets into the upper atmosphere. One picturesque Iksee project will loose unmanned weather balloons into the eddy of wind that circulates around the North Pole. If the balloons stay aloft for a week, they should make at least one circuit, reporting to an international string of radio receivers.

Sun Weather. Behind most of the experiments is the hope of developing; a technique of solar weather forecasting. Astronomers have known for many years that sunspots are storms on the sun, but until men and their instruments burst out into space, the solar storms had little significance for humans. They are vitally important now; the brilliant solar flares associated with sunspots spray the whole solar system with streams of deadly radiation. In the late 1960s, when U.S. astronauts are scheduled to start their voyages toward the moon, the sun will be getting manic once more. The astronauts' trips will be far safer if they can be scheduled for intervals between solar flares.

* Officially initialed IQSY instead of IYQS so that it can be pronounced Iksee instead of Eeks. A Pioneer-type space probe launched during Iksee will be called PIQSY.

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