Solar weather and magnetic field So far in this chapter the Sun has been considered as a static ball of hot gas: energy is created in the core, and streams out to space through the convection zone, photosphere, and solar atmosphere. We might expect that the release of energy from the surface regions should be […]

Radiation from the photosphere produces a continuous spectrum without emission or absorption lines. Above the photosphere is a layer of gas about 500 km thick, within which the effective temperature declines steadily from about 6000 to 4000K. Consequently, solar radiation has to traverse a layer of relatively cooler gas, and this absorbs radiation at wavelengths […]

The highly luminous surface of the Sun is called the PHOTOSPHERE. The photosphere is the sharp disc as observed with the eye or a small telescope. Larger telescopes used under excellent observing conditions show that the photosphere is not uniformly bright, but has a mottled texture termed GRANULATION. (Graduations in this structure exist, but the […]

Inside The Sun The Sun condensed about 5 000 million years ago from a pocket of interstellar gas that contracted under the attractive forces of its own gravity. An important property of the Sun is its mass (330000 times the Earth’s mass), which results in a pressure and temperature at the centre of the Sun […]

The Sun is a typical star, but is unique as far as we are concerned because of its proximity to Earth; it is about 150 million km away. A summary of basic solar properties is given in table 8.1. Solar energy provides virtually all the heat and light which our planet receives, and it therefore […]

Brilliant flashes of light in the solar atmosphere, lasting less than an hour, or even perhaps only a few seconds, are called Solar Flares. The brightest are visible in white light, but they are easier to see in the light of hydrogen or calcium lines. A flare is a highly concentrated, explosive release of energy, […]

The sun is a typical star which is about 150 million km away from the Earth. Solar ennergy provides virtually all the heat & light which are received by our planets & it therefore sustains every living entity. The character of our own environment is strongly influenced by solar radiation which has been a major […]