The Sun: Our Star The Sun is an ordinary star and shines the same way other stars of its type do. The bright part normally seen is called the photosphere, which is about 500 km deep. It is an almost perfect black body with a temperature of 5800 K.

Assigned Reading Chapter 8.

Why is the Sun important for life? Provides virtually all of the energy necessary for life on Earth: food, weather, etc.

What is the Sun? The Sun is a star, a failry common and typical star Its spectral type is G2 A star is a ball of gas held in equilibrium against its own self-gravity by the thermal pressure and outflow of energy from cener to the surface This energy comes from nuclear fusion reactions at the center of the Sun

Balance in the stars Thermal Pressure Gravitational Contraction

Pressure and Temperature of a Gas

This balance between weight and pressure is called hydrostatic equilibrium. The Sun's core, for example, has a temperature of about 16 million K. How does a star hold itself?

What is the Sun made of It is made of hot gas; there is no solid material in the sun! The gas is mostly hydrogen (~80%) and helium(~20%), as is in the whole universe Why does the Sun have such a sharp edge? An optical illusion

Structure of the Sun

The Atmosphere of the Sun Although the sun appears to have sharp edge, its “surface” actually has complicated structure. Its atmosphere, too, is complex It consists of: " Photosphere: 5,800 K, continuum + abs. Chromosphere: 4, ,000 K, emiss.+abs. " Corona: K, continuum+emiss.+abs.

Corona (1-2,000,000 K) ( ,000 K) (5,800 K) The light we see originates from the thin photosphere Each square millimeter of the Photosphere emits the same Energy as a ~60 Watt light bulb The Sun surface (photosphere) would cool off very quickly if Energy were not produced continuously from below spicules

What would you expect to see if you looked at the Sun’s photosphere now? The photosphere: the region where the black body radiation that we see is made Thin gas: 3,400 times thinner than air It is the transition region from a black-body emitting plasma to a transparent gas Its upper layer produces the absorption spectrum Limb darkening: proof that the Photosphere has a thickness and that energy comes from below How does the photosphere look like if we close up on it?

The limb is slightly fainter

Granulation of the Photosphere Each Granule is about the size of Texas and lasts for only minutes before fading away!

Granulation of the Photosphere Each Granule is about the size of Texas and lasts for only minutes before fading away!

Granules: convective cells The granules are just densely packed convective cells Convective cells are very similar to thunderstorms

Sunspots Sunspots, about 1000 K cooler than the rest of the Sun's photosphere, appear as dark spots. Sunspots come and go with time. Big sunspots can live for several weeks.

Chromosphere Reddish in color, which is the origin of its name (chromos meaning ``color'') km thick Faint relative to the photosphere From 4,500 up to 500,000K: hotter than the photosphere and much less dense. Absorption + Emission- line spectrum

Corona - the outermost layer - T~1 million K -made up of very diffuse (but extremely hot gas) - coronal emission is dominated by X-rays

X-ray emission from the Sun's corona The corona is so hot that it emits X-ray radiation Rotation period: about a month The middle rotates faster than the north or south. Corona has an emission line spectrum and a continuum spectrum (dust scattering of photospheric black body light). Some of the continuum spectrum has no absorption lines, because of the dilution of the absorption lines by very hot electrons

The heating of the corona The heating of the corona has puzzled scientists for a long time. The corona is heated by energy outflowing from the sun's interior not as heat but as magnetic energy. The gas is heated by the motion through it of long lines of magnetic force, which act like whips. The gas is being “whipped”. How can heat go from cooler regions to hotter ones? It doesn’t! Radiant heat penetrates the corona nearly Undisturbed Corona heated by something else: whipping by magnetic force lines

The heating of the corona The corona is heated by energy from the sun's interior not as heat but as magnetic energy. Heated by the whipping motion of lines of magnetic force

UltraViolet (UV) image of the Sun. It shows regions of the Photosphere above Sunspots are more energetic than elsewhere. It also shows magnetic link between Sunspots extending into the Cromosphere and Corona

Solar Prominence Composed of hot gas trapped in magnetic fields extending from one sunspot to another.

Prominence

Solar Flare A solar flare is a violet outburst that lasts in an hour or less. It radiates X-ray, ultraviolet, and visible radiation, plus streams of high-energy protons and electrons. A large flare can be a billion times more energetic than a large hydrogen bomb.

Solar Wind Sun loosing mass, but only a small fraction: M o /yr Mass loss will intensify later, and will much larger (~1/3)

Auroras: the Northern and Southern Lights

May 11, 2002 Auroras seen as far south as New England Caused by a gust of solar wind These powerful gusts are guided by Earth’s magnetic field and can excite gases in the upper atmosphere, causing the air there to glow

November 24, 2001 This was a Big One! Caused by two fast moving Coronal Mass Ejections Seen as far south as Texas and Arkansas, New Zealand and Australia also witnessed them.

The key point here is that nearly all “solar weather” is a result of changes in the magnetic fields that penetrate the Photosphere.