Science: From IGY to IQSY

By plan, the International Geophysical Year was set for 1957-58, a period in which the sun would predictably be active. It worked fine: the sun’s face showed lots of spots, flares and other eruptions that filled the solar system with violent radiation, caused magnetic storms on earth, stirred up the Van Allen radiation belts and lit the night sky with bright auroras. Now solar scientists need a relatively somnolent solar period with which to compare the IGY results. So they have selected 1964-65, when the sun will be at the bottom of its activity cycle, as an International Quiet Sun Year. Inevitably it will be known as IQSY.