0

I know that solar cycles (minimum/maximum) last for 11 years each, but is this in earth years, or is this time period consistent across every planet? For example, on Mars, would a solar cycle last for 5.8482532751 years, or 11 years? (See calculation below).

11 years = 4,017.75 days/687 days = 5.8482532751 years.

For context, I'm trying to calculate how much radiation exposure is on Mars during solar maximum. The rems per year during solar maximum is 6. So would I multiply 6 rems * 11 years?? Would that be the answer in Mars Years?

Thank you in anticipation of your feedback.

T BC
  • 3
  • 5
    Why would it be different for e.g. Mars? I'm very sure 11 years means 11 Earth years. The sun doesn't care where Mars is when another cycle starts. – John Doe May 20 '19 at 10:20
  • OK. For context, I'm trying to calculate how much radiation exposure is on Mars during solar maximum. The rems per year during maximum is 6. So would I multiply 6 rems * 11 years?? Would that be the answer in Mars Years? – T BC May 20 '19 at 10:34
  • 1
    No health information is measured in Martian years, so measure all the time in standard Earth time units. More seriously, why are you multiplying the maximum exposure with the length of the entire cycle? That does not make sense. – Anders Sandberg May 20 '19 at 11:09
  • Sorry, 6 rems is the amount of radiation, on average, during the solar maximum cycle. Is this multiplication still incorrect? If so, what should I do instead? – T BC May 20 '19 at 11:30

1 Answers1

1

We only give the length of things that take long in Earth years, because this is a quantity that we can relate to. A quantity such as a Mars year exists, but is of no concern for your problem.

For your problem what is important is that the base unit of time is seconds, and therefore the solar cycle takes not 11 years, but approximately 11*365*24*3600 seconds. And a second on Mars is the same as a second on Earth, because it is defined that way.

AtmosphericPrisonEscape
  • 1,652