sun spots and flares
The Sun
The Sun is the centre of our universe. It is a common middle sized yellow star which scientists call Sol. The is why our group of planets is called The Solar System. There are billions of other stars in the universe just like it. Many of these stars have their own systems of planets, moons, asteroids and comets.
The Sun was born around 5 million years ago in cloud of gas and dust. Over millions of years this gas and dust began to contract into a common centre with the force of its own gravity. In the centre, a growing body of mass started forming. While the mass fell inward it generated a huge amount of heat and pressure. As it grew the Sun became hotter and hotter.
When the Sun reached around 1 million degrees, its core ignited, causing it to begin nuclear fusion. When this happened the Sun started producing its own heat and light.
The Sun is the centre of our universe. It is a common middle sized yellow star which scientists call Sol. The is why our group of planets is called The Solar System. There are billions of other stars in the universe just like it. Many of these stars have their own systems of planets, moons, asteroids and comets.
The Sun was born around 5 million years ago in cloud of gas and dust. Over millions of years this gas and dust began to contract into a common centre with the force of its own gravity. In the centre, a growing body of mass started forming. While the mass fell inward it generated a huge amount of heat and pressure. As it grew the Sun became hotter and hotter.
When the Sun reached around 1 million degrees, its core ignited, causing it to begin nuclear fusion. When this happened the Sun started producing its own heat and light.
The Suns Structure
Core: The site of thermonuclear fusion, which is the engine of the sun. Temperatures here approach 15,000,000 K and pressures exceed 250,000,000,000 atmospheres. The core makes up 50% of the sun's mass but only 1/64th of the Sun's volume. All of the energy that comes from the Sun is produced in the core.
Radiative Zone: The region where energy from the core begins its journey outward, but the material is too dense and hot for heat transfer. This means the energy radiates out by creating alternating parallel magnetic and electrical fields by moving outward as electromagnetic radiation.
Convective Zone: A region of less dense material, the energy is primarily carried toward the surface by heat convection currents which carry hot gases toward the surface before they cool and fall back inward.
Photosphere: A shallow region of 200 km thickness where the sun's energy escapes as visible light. This is the area we directly see, and it is always the coolest region of any star. Sunspots are visible on this layer.
Chromosphere: A region where huge amounts of hot gas erupt above the photosphere and where temperatures climb back above 10,000 K.
Corona: The site of solar wind blowing out from the sun, where the out-flowing energy energizes the thin gases to 2,000,000 K, by unknown mechanisms.
Core: The site of thermonuclear fusion, which is the engine of the sun. Temperatures here approach 15,000,000 K and pressures exceed 250,000,000,000 atmospheres. The core makes up 50% of the sun's mass but only 1/64th of the Sun's volume. All of the energy that comes from the Sun is produced in the core.
Radiative Zone: The region where energy from the core begins its journey outward, but the material is too dense and hot for heat transfer. This means the energy radiates out by creating alternating parallel magnetic and electrical fields by moving outward as electromagnetic radiation.
Convective Zone: A region of less dense material, the energy is primarily carried toward the surface by heat convection currents which carry hot gases toward the surface before they cool and fall back inward.
Photosphere: A shallow region of 200 km thickness where the sun's energy escapes as visible light. This is the area we directly see, and it is always the coolest region of any star. Sunspots are visible on this layer.
Chromosphere: A region where huge amounts of hot gas erupt above the photosphere and where temperatures climb back above 10,000 K.
Corona: The site of solar wind blowing out from the sun, where the out-flowing energy energizes the thin gases to 2,000,000 K, by unknown mechanisms.
Sunspots
Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly through telescopes as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity.
The graph below shows the amount of sunspots on the Sun's photosphere from 1900 to 2000.
Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly through telescopes as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity.
The graph below shows the amount of sunspots on the Sun's photosphere from 1900 to 2000.
Solar Flares
A solar flare is a violent eruption that explodes from a star's photosphere with energies equivalent to tens of millions of hydrogen bombs. Solar flares from the Sun send out a streams of highly energetic solar winds that can present a radiation hazard to spacecraft outside of planetary magnetospheres and can disrupt radio signals on Earth
A solar flare is a violent eruption that explodes from a star's photosphere with energies equivalent to tens of millions of hydrogen bombs. Solar flares from the Sun send out a streams of highly energetic solar winds that can present a radiation hazard to spacecraft outside of planetary magnetospheres and can disrupt radio signals on Earth