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The Sun PDF
The Sun PDF
Nur Islami
INTRODUCTION
The Sun
Our sole source
of light and heat in
the solar system
A very common
star: a glowing ball of
gas held together by its
own gravity and powered
by nuclear fusion at its
center.
SOLAR PROPERTIES
Solar Properties
Radius = 696,000 km
(100 times Earth)
Mass = 2 x 1030 kg
(300,000 times Earth)
Av. Density = 1410 kg/m3
Rotation Period =
24.9 days (equator)
29.8 days (poles)
Surface temp = 5780 K
Element
Hydrogen 70.9%
Helium 27.4%
etc
~ 4 x 1026 W
100 billion onemegaton nuclear bombs
every second!
Solar constant:
LSUN / 4R2
(energy/second/area
at the radius of
Earths orbit)
Convection
Convection takes over when
the gas is too opaque for
radiative energy transport.
Hot gas is less dense and
rises (or floats, like a hot air
balloon or a beach ball in a
pool).
Cool gas is more dense and
sinks
Solar Granulation
Evidence for Convection
Visible
surface
The Photosphere
The visible surface of the sun
It is not solid, thin layer of gas, less than 500
km deep.
The pothosphere is less than 1/3000 as dense
as the air in the earth.
Below photosphere, the gas is denser and
hotter
The granulation is appear in the photosphere
Granules
Convection from inside the sun causes the
photosphere to be subdivided into 10002000km cells.
Chromosphere
Chromospheric Spicules:
warm jets of matter
shooting out at ~100 km/s
Spicules are thought to the
result of magnetic
disturbances
H light
Transition Zone
& Corona
Very low density,
T ~ 106 K
We see emission
lines from highly
ionized elements
(Fe+5 Fe+13) which
indicates that the
temperature here is
very HOT
Why does the Temperature rise further from the hot light source?
magnetic activity -spicules and other more energetic
phenomena (more about this later)
Solar Wind
Solar Wind
Coronal gas has enough heat (kinetic) energy to escape the
Suns gravity.
The Sun is evaporating via this wind.
Solar wind travels at ~500 km/s, reaching Earth in ~3 days
The Sun loses about 1 million tons of matter each second!
However, over the Suns lifetime, it has lost only ~0.1% of
its total mass.
Coronal holes
are related to the
Suns magnetic
field
SUNSPOT
Sunspots
Sunspots
Typically about 10000 km
across
At any time, the sun may
have hundreds or none
Dark color because they
are cooler than photospheric
gas (4500K in darkest parts)
Each spot can last from a few days to a few months
Galileo observed these spots and realized the sun is rotating
differentially (faster at the poles, slower at the equator)
Sunspots &
Magnetic Fields
The twisted and tangled field lines occasionally get kinked, causing the field
strength to increase
Sunspot Cycle
Solar maximum is
reached every ~11 years
Solar Prominences
Solar Prominence
Typical size is 100,000 km
May persist for days or weeks
Earth
5 hours
Particles in the flare are so energetic, the magnetic field cannot bring them
back to the Sun they escape Suns gravity
Task 2
Make one paper (3-5 pages) that discuss
about: Nuclear fusion in the sun and its
implication.
Submit the paper at next lecture
One group (chosen randomly) will present it
within 20 minutes (15 minutes for
presentation + 5 minutes Q&A)