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Right now it is fall here, but spring in Chile and Argentina, and 2-3 months from now it will be mid-winter here and mid-summer in those countries. At our latitudes, these seasons are well defined. However, a broad belt centered on the equator does not have well-defined summer or winter. The Sun's heat fluctuates somewhat as its noontime passage moves north and south. On the equator, for instance, it passes right overhead around the 21st of March or September, 23.5 degrees off to the north on June 21 and the same amount south of "overhead" (zenith) on December 21.

These small changes do not make much of a change in solar heating. The big difference is made by local climate patterns, e.g. seasonal rains like the monsoon. These countries do not have summer and winter the way we do: for instance, when my daughter visited Darwin, Australia, some years ago, she was told that loacally the year had only two seasons, "the wet" and "the dry. "

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However, the creation and destruction of the ozone layer does not involve the magnetic field. Instead, its factors are chemistry and sunlight, and the "ozone hole" is around the geographic pole, not the magnetic one.

The ozone layer is maintained as an equilibrium between creation of ozone by ultra-violet sunlight, and its destruction by various natural processes (this is not my field, and I do not know details). During polar winter, the polar cap is dark and ozone is not created, just destroyed (a bit further from the pole, with just a few hours of sunlight and the sun shining at a shallow angle, ozone creation is also reduced). The observation of an "ozone hole" in recent years suggest accelerated destruction, as predicted by Rowland and Molina to come from chlorine in man-made substances.

As for tapping electric currents from space, I don't think it will work, because (1) they are very spread-out, by our standards--how can you tap a current sheet 100-1000 miles wide?; and (2) between us and them lies the atmosphere, a very effective electric insulator--as is well known to power companies, which string their high-voltage cables through air without worrying about the power leaking away.

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The Sun is not exactly like an H-bomb--the bomb has fuel that is easier to "burn, " while to Sun "burns" ordinary hydrogen--but there does exist a similarity. Why does a hydrogen bomb explode? Because an enormous amount of energy is released in a short instant and inside a small volume, heating the material to extreme temperature. The material expands forcibly, creating a powerful shock, and that is the explosion.

The Sun releases much more energy every second in its central regions, but those materials are under great pressure, from the weight of all the matter piled up on top of them--the thick outer layers of the Sun, pulled down by a gravity much stronger than anything on Earth. That pressure confines the extremely hot gas in the Sun's core. The heat gradually works its way to the surface, but the Sun does not blow up.

If somehow it could yield to the pressure and expand, the central core would cool down and the nuclear energy release would drop. Then the pressure would decrease again and gravity would reassert itself. Some stars do in fact oscillate, but we should be grateful that the Sun does not belong to that class.

Why is there such a difference between Southern and Northern Hemisphere? Is it because of the 23 1/2 degree tilt?

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At night, standing on the ground, you only see HALF the sphere. If you stood at the NORTH pole, half the sphere would be all you ever saw, appearing to spin around the point right overhead, the zenith. Standing at the SOUTH pole, you would see the other half, spinning around the point overhead, which is on the OPPOSITE end of the sphere from the overhead point at the north pole.

If you lived on the equator, the two poles of the sky would be on opposite sides of the horizon, and as the sphere of the heavens rotated around them, you would in principle see ALL the stars, sooner or later. In practice, those close to the poles will be near the horizon and not easy to see.

Maryland, where I live, is somewhere between the north pole and the equator, so the stars near the north pole are easily seen, and we get to see some stars of the southern hemisphere as well, though not those near the southern pole of the heavens (like the Southern Cross and Alpha Centauri), and many southern stars are only seen here near the horizon.

Similarly, from Chile you won't see the Pole Star, the Big Dipper or Cassiopeia, but the bright stars near the southern pole more than make up for them, and yes, the brightest part of the Milky way is there, too. North of the equator, the best view of the Milky Way is in mid-summer.

The 23 1/2 degree tilt has to do with the way the Sun, Moon and planets appear to move--not with the apparent motion of the distant stars.

I have heard about the upcoming Solar Maximum starting soon (CNN.com article, Nov. 11, 1999). I have also heard (unofficially), that there could be a very large solar storm near the end of April.

Finally, it is relatively commonly known that there is going to be an unusual alignment of the planets in our solar system at the beginning of May, 2000. Has there been an in-depth study to determine effects of the combination of these phenomena, and the potential impacts on both our solar system, and our planet?

The real question; could this combination of phenomena:

1.) Promote a solar flare, or SME, significantly larger than previously experienced in recorded history?

---I have heard of Super flares emitting from G Class Stars, and the theory describes large planets in a close orbit (Jan. 8th Article, Sun-like stars said to emit super flares, CNN). Now, I don't expect this size of phenomena to happen here, but with the unusual planetary alignment, I do believe that this could create larger effects than normal, like a significant Solar-Magnetic Ejection, especially with the excitation of the Solar Phenomena. I'm just curious as to how much larger.

2.) Disrupt the crust of our planet, creating a significant amount of tectonic activity, and if so, by how much?

---Now, I know our planets are very far apart, but if the magnetic attractions are larger than normal, and these magnetic attractions promote significant SME activity, this could promote some strange tectonic happenstance, especially with the fragility of our planet and its crust.

3.) Potentially disrupt our magnetic field severely with the combination of solar magnetic and gravitational forces?

---I am aware of changes in our earth's history of the magnetic poles, could this happen here with the combination of a large SME and gravitational forces?

No calculations, or in-depth study has occurred, but I have a hunch this should be looked at more closely, and by qualified people.

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In your experience, has anyone tried to correlate lineups of the sun, earth and major planets' magnetospheres with the sunspot cycles? My spare-time effort found some correlation between lineups and cycles in a number of years. My wonderment centers around the possibility that some forces of the planets when lined up, possibly relating to their magnetospheres, impact the suns magnetosphere causing a solar max. I've also considered the possibility that related magnetosphere effects could be the cause of previous polar reversals on the earth. Additionally, ringing of our magnetosphere might impact charged tectonic plates...but that is again another direction. Only if you have time, please comment.

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Above and beyond all these, there is always the question of energy-- the currency in which the price of any physical process must be paid. The energy required in the solar cycle is much bigger than anything planetary magnetospheres can supply.

So what causes the cycle? The Sun rotates unevenly, slower near the poles, faster near the equator, probably because of the way gas flows in it (Jupiter also has such a difference). In a magnetized hot gas, this difference deforms and amplifies the magnetic field, and there exist some general theories of the sunspot cycle based on this, al