The sun is one of many factors influencing Earth's climate. Humans have significantly altered the Earth's arable land and oceans during the modern period. The rapid expansion of industrial civilization in the 20th century resulted in significant ecological dislocations. In the late 20th century the hypothesis that carbon dioxide emissions from human activity were magnifying the Earth's natural greenhouse effect became dominant. Today's mainstream global warming hypothesis identifies human activities as the strongest factor influencing Earth's climate. However, data gathered by scientists from around the world indicate temperatures on our planetary neighbors are also rising. These experts attribute Earth's recent warming to an unprecedented increase in solar activity beginning around 1940.
In 1998 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based instruments found that temperatures on Neptune's moon Triton increased dramatically since 1989 when the Voyager space probe last collected temperature data. In the June 25, 1998 issue of the journal Nature James Elliot, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reported that Triton's 5% increase on the absolute temperature scale between 1989 and 1998 would be like Earth warming 22F in nine years. Changes in the reflectivity and heat absorption of the frozen nitrogen surface were the theorized causes of warming on Triton.
In 2002 astronomers announced that Pluto was warming despite its long orbit away from the Sun. Researchers estimated that surface temperatures on Pluto had warmed as much as 3.5F. Researchers from several institutions suggested Pluto's warming might be associated with volcanic activity however it is unclear whether or not there is volcanic activity on the small planet. Researchers also reported that between 1975 and 2000 Mars warmed by as much as 0.65F. At the time researchers were unclear as to the causes of global warming on Mars.
In 2004 the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science announced that an international team of scientists had reconstructed solar sunspot activity over the past 11 millennia by analyzing radioactive isotopes in plant fossils. Scientists from the Max Planck Society's Institute for Solar System Research reported in the October 24, 2004 issue of Nature that since 1940 solar sunspot activity increased to an unprecedented level last seen approximately 8,000 years ago. Researchers concluded that along with sunspots the Sun has been producing more flares and eruptions and has been shining more brightly since 1940. The Max Planck Society's 2004 press release stopped short of attributing 20th century warming to increased solar activity but suggested a potential connection. The Society states that the close correlation between solar activity and pre-industrial global temperature fluctuations merits further research.
In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions indicated a significant reduction of the carbon dioxide "ice cap" at Mars's south pole. In 2007 the head of Russia's St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory, Habibullo Abdussamatov attributed the warming climate on Mars to a long-term increase in solar irradiance. Western global warming adherents dismiss Abdussamatov's conclusions suggesting instead that Mars's current warming trend can be attributed to changes in Mars's axial tilt. Despite alleged mainstream Western acceptance of anthropogenic climate change scientists around the world correlate the Earth's warming climate to the Sun's increased activity.
In 2007 researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geology and Geophysics found that southern China underwent its warmest period between 9,500 and 8,000 years ago. Researchers at the Institute posit that high-resolution pollen records implicate a large increase in solar irradiance as the main factor contributing to southern China's past warming. Researchers also find that southern China has both cooled and become increasingly arid over the past 8,000 years due to an overall decline in solar irradiance and the increasing frequency of El Nino/Southern Oscillation events.
Then in 2008 researchers in Denmark introduced a proposed mechanism by which solar activity governs Earth's climate. Earth's magnetic field is affected by solar activity and when solar activity is low the Earth's magnetic field becomes weaker. When the Earth's magnetic field is weak cosmic rays from deep space can more easily penetrate Earth's atmosphere increasing cloud formation. Increasing cloud cover and the resultant decrease in solar radiance results in global cooling. Conversely, a stronger magnetic field inhibits cosmic rays from entering Earth's atmosphere decreasing overall cloud cover. The Danish researchers indicate that current global warming research cannot account for pre-industrial global warming such as that which occurred in the Medieval Warm Period precisely because current anthropogenic theories do not take into account the influence of the Sun on Earth's climate.
In conclusion, there is an extensive body of data supporting the theory that the Sun is one of the main drivers of climate change on Earth. According to astronomers and solar physicists the Sun entered its most active phase in approximately 8,000 years around 1940. Increased solar activity is a plausible factor in global warming occurring on other planets in our solar system. Researchers around the world attribute the warming that occurred in the mid to late 20th century to an unprecedented increase in solar activity. Despite the dominance of the myopic theory of human-induced global warming a large body of data exists implicating the Sun as the main driver of Earth's recent warming.