9.

1 THE SUN
LEARNING OUTCOMES Describe the characteristics of the Sun Identify the structre of the Sun Identify the phenomena on the surface of the Sun Explain the effects of the phenomena on the surface of the Sun on the Earth State how energy is generated by the Sun

CHARACTERISTICS
The Sun consists of about 70% Hydrogen, 28% Helium and 2% of metals such as iron. Other characteristics are its rotation, temperature, and radiation. Rotation The Sun rotates on its axis, which is approximately the same axis that most of the planets revolved around the Sun. Since the Sun is primarily very hot gas, the surface at the equator rotates once every 25.4 days. The rotation near the poles is around 36 days. Also the surface swirls in high and low pressure areas, similar to those that occur on Earth. The rotation of the Sun and the inclusion of iron in its core cause it to have a magnetic field, which is considerably more than the Earth's magnetic field. Temperature Its temperature is extremely hot, with the surface being about 5000 C and the center core at 15,600,000 C. The high temperature in the core, along with extreme pressure from the Sun's mass, result in nuclear fusion reactions. Two Hydrogen nuclei (protons) combine with two neutrons to form a Helium nucleus plus a release of energy. Radiation The energy released from the fusion reactions near the Sun's core is in the form of very high frequency electromagnetic waves called gamma rays. As this radiation moves towards the Sun's surface, it is absorbed by atoms in the Sun's interior, increasing their kinetic energy. After absorption, the rays are then re-emitted at lower frequencies. This process continues until the radiation reaches the Sun's surface. By that time it is primarily visible light.

Size The Sun's diameter is 864,938 miles (1,391,980 km). This is almost 10 times larger than the planet Jupiter and about 109 times as big as the Earth. The volume of the Sun is 1,299,400 times bigger than the volume of the Earth; about 1,300,000 Earths could fit inside the Sun . Mass The Sun's mass is roughly 1.99 x 1030 kg. This is about 333,000 times the mass of the Earth. The Sun contains 99.8% of all of the mass of the Solar System. The mass of the sun is decreasing over time, as fusion reactions convert hydrogen into helium, releasing huge amounts of energy in the process.

STRUCTURE OF THE SUN

The Core
The Sun's core has a tremendously high temperature and pressure. The temperature is roughly 15 million C. At this temperature, nuclear fusion occurs, turning four hydrogen nuclei into a single helium nucleus plus a LOT of energy. This "hydrogen burning" releases gamma rays (high-energy photons) and neutrinos (particles with no charge and almost no mass).

The Radiative Zone (or radiation zone)

The next layer out from the core is this zone which emits radiation. This radiation diffuses outwards. The temperature ranges from 15 million C to one million C. It may take photons of radiation millions of years to pass through the radiative zone, as they gradually make their way outwards.

The Convective Zone

In this next layer, photons continue to make their way outwards via convection (towards lower temperature and pressure). The temperature ranges from one million C to 6,000 C.

The Photosphere
This is the lower atmosphere of the Sun and the part that we see (since it emits light at visible wavelengths). This layer is about 300 miles (500km) thick. The temperature is about 5,500 C.

The Chromosphere
This reddish layer is an area of rising temperatures. The temperature ranges from 6,000 C (at lower altitudes) to 50,000 C (at higher altitudes). This layer is a few thousand miles (or kilometers) thick. It appears red because hydrogen atoms are in an excite state and emit radiation near the red part of the visible spectrum. The Chromosphere is visible during solar eclipses (when the moon blocks the Photosphere).

The Corona
This is the outer layer of the Sun's atmosphere. The corona extends for millions of miles and the temperatures are tremendous, reaching one million C. Holes in the corona occur where the Sun's magnetic field loops out into space. These coronal holes may be the source of the solar wind, a stream of energetic particles that permeate the Solar System.

PHENOMENA ON THE SURFACE OF THE SUN AND THE EFFECTS ON THE EARTH
Solar Flares
Solar flares are huge outbursts of solar material, which are several thousand to million kilometers long. If we had some way of capturing all the energy emitted in one of the smallest solar flares, we would have enough energy to power the Earth for 1,000,000 years. The series of photographs at the right shows the progression of at least two flares. The main one is at the bottom with material stretching upwards in the first photo. By the fourth photograph, it has mostly dissipated, with the ejected material drifting outwards in space. The other flare is much smaller, and is near the top of the first photo. By the fourth photo, it can be seen ejecting material.

Filaments and Prominences

Filaments are dark, thread-like features that are seen in red light (H-). They are dense, somewhat cooler, clouds of material. They are suspended above the surface of the sun by loops of magnetic fields. A prominence (left) is the same thing as a filament, except that prominences are seen projecting over the limb of the sun. Filaments and prominences can remain relatively quiet and stable for days or weeks, but as the magnetic fields that support them change, they tend to erupt and rise off the sun over the course of a few minutes to hours. These are thousand to millions of kilometers wide and tall.

Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)

Coronal Mass Ejections (CME's) are giant bubbles of gas whose structures are dictated by magnetic field lines that are ejected from the sun over the course of a few hours. Even though the corona has been viewed for thousands of years via solar eclipses, CME's were not known about until the space age. Observations of the sun made with a coronagraph - a device that blocks the sun's disk from a detector - on the 7th Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO 7) between 1971-1973 were the first evidence of CME's. The reason that ground-based coronagraphs won't work is because only the innermost parts of the corona can be seen against the brightness of the sky. Solar eclipses offer only a few minutes at best of the corona, which is too short of a time period to see the evolution of a CME. CME's disrupt the flow of the solar wind and can produce intense electromagnetic disturbances that can severely damage satellites and disrupt power grids on Earth. The frequency varies with

the sunspot cycle; during solar minimum they come at a rate of about one per week, and during maximum there is an average of about two or three per day.

Sunspots
Sunspots are cooler areas of the sun's photosphere. They also have very strong magnetic fields, up to 10,000 times that of Earth's - up to 3000 times that of the rest of the sun, and current sunspot theory holds that that it is the magnetic fields that cause the sunspots. Sunspots usually occur in groups of approximately 10, and the individual spots can be as large as the planet Earth. They are usually about 5,000 K (8,500 F), which is 800 K (1,500 F) cooler than the rest of the photosphere. They were first discovered in ancient times. In 1610, Galileo Galilei became the first European to observe them. Daily observations began at the Zurich Observatory in 1749 and continuous observations between several observatories were started in 1849. They were not found to be caused by abnormal magnetic fields until 1908, by George Ellery Hale. The "sunspot number" (SSN) is calculated by counting he number of sunspot groups, then the number of individual spots, and the SSN is given as the sum of the number of individual spots plus ten times the number of groups. Sunspots have an eleven-year activity cycle that coincides with a 22-year pole complete magnetic pole flip of the sun *. When sunspots are at their peak, the sun actually becomes brighter. This is because magnetically brighter areas surround each sunspot, more than making up for the dimmer areas. They peaked last in 2001, and had their last big dip in 1995. If you own a telescope and a solar filter, you should see a decreasing amount of sunspots right now, with the next peak in 2012. No one yet has a generally accepted theory as to why the sun has this "internal clock."

The diagram above depicts sunspot records dating back over 400 years. The data displayed are through September 2005 for the montly values, and through 2004 for the yearly average. It plainly shows that along with the eleven-year sunspot cycle, there appears to be a dramatic 70-

year minimum where sunspot activity was nearly non-existant. This period between 1645 and 1715 is known as the "Maunder Minimum," and it is sometimes referred to as the "Little Ice Age." During this period, rivers that were normally ice-free froze and snow fields remained yearround in lower altitudes. Evidence of similar periods of solar inactivity are present in radioactive carbon-14 from 8000-year-old trees. There are also periods of increased activity, the last one occurring in the twelfth century (timely sunspot records do not exist that far back, so they are not displayed). These periods can last for over 200 years.

Another interesting phenomena of sunspots is shown in the above graph, known as the "Butterfly Diagram." To create it, I used daily sunspot information for May 1874 (earlier data were not available) through September 2005, that contains data of the location of sunspots on the solar disk. I then binned this information into 3-month temporal bins and 2 latitude bins. The color indicates the number in each bin. The result depicts the intensity of sunspots on the sun throughout the sunspot cycles. So, the sunspot lows are not only characterized by few spots, but also by sunspots concentrated near the equatorial regions. As the cycle approaches maximum, the spots jump closer to the poles, and then they gradually spread back to the equator as the cycle reaches another minimum.

Effect on Communication System

Navigation Systems

Satellites

Radiation hazards

Electric power

Explanation The Earths atmosphere is used to reflect radio signals.The solar wind causes the radio signals to fluctuate causing radio communications to be affected. Aeroplanes and ships use radio signals from transmitters located throughout the Earth to determine their positions.The radio signals of the transmitters are affected by the solar wind,causing the systems to give navigators information that is incorrect by as much as several kilometers. The solar winds heats up the Earths upper atmosphere causing hot air to rise into space.This increases the density at the orbit of satellites significantly.If these satellites are not boosted to higher orbits,they will fall to the earth. Astronauts in space are exposed to radiation hazards caused by high-energy particles released by intense solar flares. Electric power supply is disrupted when magnetically charged particles in solar wind induce current in power transmission lines.

Aurorae
Aurorae are bands of coloured light in the night sky in the most northern and southern parts of the Earth.When some of the charged particles of the solar wind reaches the Earth,they collide with gas molecules like oxygen and nitrogen, causing them to release energy in the form of light.

HOW ENERGY IS GENERATED BY THE SUN

Nuclear Fusion

Energy is generated by the Sun through nuclear fusion in the core of the Sun.A nuclear reaction can produce large amounts of energy.A nuclear fusion is a nuclear reaction where several atoms of one type of element merge together to form a different element.

The Sun is mainly made up of hydrogen.Under high temperature in the core of the Sun,hydrogen atoms undergo nuclear fusion to form helium atoms and a large amount of energy is produced.The energy produced is in the form of heat and light.

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