S282 - 1.

1 Seeing the Sun page 1 of 8

S282 - Astronomy

Book 1 The Sun and Stars

1. Seeing the Sun
1.1. Introduction

Two main differences between the Sun and planets/moons are :

• The Sun produces electromagnetic energy with a brightness or, luminosity of L  3.84 x 1026 W.

• Size. Diameter ten times greater than Jupiter.

Also, compared with many planets,

• Surface. The Sun's 'surface' is a semi-transparent shell of gaseous material.

Solar Luminosity 3.84 x 1026 W photospheric thickness  500 km

Solar Radius 7 x 105 km photospheric temp 4500 – 9000 K
Sunspot temp  4200 K average photospheric temp 5800 K
30
Solar mass 1.99 x 10 kg Average density 1410 kgm-3

1.2. The Photosphere

1.2.1. Background. Virtually all light comes from the photosphere ( 500km deep). The three factors that
account for the photosphere effectiveness as an energy source are:

1. The solar atmosphere above the photosphere is largely transparent at visible wavelengths (which
dominate photosphere emissions).

2. The photosphere is opaque so virtually no light from below is emitted directly.

3. The photosphere is large, with a temperature around 6000K.

The observed reduction in brightness as you move from the centre, along a solar
1.2.2. Limb Darkening.
limb is known as limb darkening.

Limb darkening is due to the temperature of the material you are looking
at. In the centre of the Sun's image, you are looking at material to a
depth of 500km, with a temperature ranging from 4500K at the top to
9000K at the bottom (most of the photospheric light comes from a
region where the temperature is between 5800 and 6000K). As you
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move along a limb however, you still see 500km of material (to a first approximation) but the penetration
towards the centre of the Sun is reducing. This means that the temperature of the observed material is
also reducing along a limb and hence the brightness falls.

Note that the above discussion is a simplified explanation. There are other effects (eg, the visual
penetration depth) which also affect brightness but these are not as significant.

1.2.3. Sunspots. Another noticeable feature of the photosphere are sunspots -

large, relatively cool ( 4200K) areas which typically last for a few weeks.
These regions can (individually) be as large as the diameter of the Earth. They
provide clear evidence that the Sun rotates, with a differential rotation varying
from 25 days at the equator, to 36 days near the poles.

Sunspots also indicate solar activity, seen to cycle through an 11 year period (which is actually a 22 year
period).

Sunspots are associated with strong magnetic fields and different

patterns of motion than their surroundings. They correspond to
shallow depressions in the photosphere.

1.2.4. Granulation. The Sun's surface shows solar granulation

(believed to be typical of stars). Granules are about 1000km across
and short lived ( 5-10 minutes). Detailed studies indicate that they
are the tops of rising columns of hot material (rising at  1 kms-1).
The dark lanes between granules are regions where the cooler material (from the top of the granule)
descends back into the solar interior.

1.3. Spectroscopy and the Sun's atmosphere

1.3.1. Background. Beyond the photosphere, the Sun's atmosphere has two regions :

1. The chromosphere. The inner atmosphere is a few 100km thick with a pink or reddish tinge.
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2. The corona. The outer atmosphere (outside the chromosphere) is very extensive and has a
pearly-white colour.

These regions are easily seen at the time of a solar eclipse when the intense light from the photosphere is
blocked.

1.3.2. Chromosphere.Excellent views of the chromosphere may be obtained by restricting our vision to
those wavelengths which are prominent in the chromosphere but not the photosphere. The majority of the
chromosphere is estimated to be hydrogen and the physical conditions make the visible hydrogen
emissions appropriate to study it. This is because these solar emissions, from the photospheric radiation,
are absorbed by the hydrogen and re-emitted. This shows why a close inspection / analysis of the
photosphere dark lines on a solar spectrum reveal much about the chromosphere.

These visible wavelengths are known as the Balmer series and are derived from transitions down to the
n=2 (L-) shell,

name  (nm) alternative name colour due to

H 656.3 L red hydrogen
H 486.1 L green hydrogen
H 434.0 L violet hydrogen
H 410.1 L violet hydrogen
H? 396.8 ? violet calcium
K? 393.3 ? violet calcium

The main emission (H) is responsible for the pinky colour.

H vision of the Sun's chromosphere shows a mottling with bright

specs (Note : groups of specs collectively known as Plages) above
active regions of the photosphere containing sunspots. Dark filaments
are also common, these being caused by huge clouds of cool gas held
above the chromosphere by magnetic forces.

Other useful images are found using transitions in calcium:

calcium H : 396.8 nm
calcium K : 393.3 nm

The temperature and density both change with height above the photosphere. The drop in density is
intuitive however, the increase in temperature is not.

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1.3.3. Corona. The corona is very extensive and has a very high temperature. The total light produced is
small so the corona is usually studied with a coronagraph - a telescope that blocks out the photosphere
light. Most of this light is scattered white light. The coronal spectrum also includes its own emission
lines:

-  = 530.3 nm (green) – this is the strongest of the emissions.

-  = 569.4nm (green).
-  = 637.4nm (red).

Note that to explain emission spectra due to heavy elements, ions with a large net charge are required eg,
13+
Fe explains the 530.3nm output.

The decrease in hydrogen number density and increasing

temperature observed in the chromosphere continue through
the corona.

The increasing temperature (moving away from the Sun) is

counter-intuitive. At present it is not fully understood but it
seems to be due to the magnetic fields around the Sun.

X-ray images of the corona indicate it is composed of

'loops', produced by the effect of the Sun's magnetic field on
the coronal plasma. Coronal holes are also seen, where the solar magnetic field opens outwards to
interplanetary space, extending to great distances before looping back. These holes are thought to be the
major source of the solar wind.

1.3.4. The Sun's electromagnetic spectrum. The full e-m spectrum of the Sun has three components:

1.  = 10-7 to 10-1 m - thermal (black) body variation with a temperature of 6000K. This is mainly
from the photosphere.
2.  > 10-1 m (micro to radio) - emissions come from the hotter regions of the solar corona - the
more active the Sun, the higher the emission power. This is especially true of solar flares.
3.  < 10-7 m (UV to ) - photosphere emissions fall off rapidly. The major emission here is from
the hot corona - again the output power is dependent on coronal activity.

It should be noted that much of our spectral information is acquired by satellites so that the effects of the
Earth's atmosphere can be ignored.

Dr John A Chilton
 Background Science
The nature of light
It should be kept in mind that to help our understanding of the world (or, universe) around us, we like to have
pictures in our minds which relate to 'what's going on'. Such is the case with light. In truth, we do not really know
what light is, but we have various models which we use to try to explain its various phenomena. Two such, are the
'wave' and 'particle' models and each has its successes and failures depending on where we try to apply it.

Wave Model. This considers the light as electric and magnetic waves, connected (in phase) at right angles to each
other. The time over which the wave repeats itself is known as the 'period' and the repeat distance is termed the
'wavelength'.

The velocity of the wave is given by

c = f 

This model is used when discussing propagation phenomena (eg, reflection, refraction, interference, diffraction).

Particle Model. The particle model assumes that light is made of a collection of particles - photons. Each photon
carries energy given by
 = hf h = Planck's constant

The photon model is used to describe the interaction of light (eg, the photoelectric effect, absorption and emission
spectra).

The full e-m spectrum is shown below.

Dr John A Chilton
The Electron-Volt (eV)
The actual energies associated with the energy levels for atoms and molecules are small. As such, a unit of energy
called the electron-volt was created. This was for convenience – for the same reasons that we use light years and
parsecs for distances in space, the electron-volt is used to produce simpler numbers to remember and use.

1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19 J
Spectroscopy

The emission of light is from either thermal sources or non-thermal sources. The former is due to the source being
'hot' and the latter due to some other form of energy transition within the source. The light these sources emit is
usually discussed with respect to the spectral flux density (either absolute or relative), defined as the output power
(ie., energy per second) per unit area per unit wavelength range ie.,

P
Spectral Flux Density = F = A  units : [Wm-2µm-1]

All sources of thermal radiation give out photons of energy with a typical value given by

hc 0.144
 ~ kT and since  = hf this leads to  = kT ~ T

Black body sources are a special case and have a characteristic curve of F vs  which is well understood and
leads to the much more accurate Wien displacement law showing how the peak wavelength (peak) depends on
temperature ie.,
2.9 x 10-3
peak = T [m]

Note that F depends not only on temperature, but also sample size and sample-detector distance. The Sun’s
photosphere is a reasonable approximation to a black body.

The characteristic emission/absorption lines of an

atom are determined by transitions between the
various energy levels available. Hence, the
energies are related to wavelength and frequency
by

hc
 = h - l = hf = 

Dr John A Chilton