For as long as we’ve bothered to care about heavenly bodies other than our own, we’ve thought that the size of the Sun varies throughout its 11-year solar cycles. Intense magnetic forces, the theory went, rendered it as malleable as a sturdy stress ball. That was a good theory, backed up by decades of data. It’s also totally wrong. What Jeffrey Kuhn and his team at the University of Hawaii in Pukalani have discovered, in fact, is that the Sun’s shape doesn’t vary at all. It’s rounder than we thought, sure, and flatter—if you can reconcile those two in your brain—but it’s also terrifically consistent. Ours is one resilient orb. Read the full story at Gizmodo.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.