The Sun

Visible Image of 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.

Pressure (from heat

caused by nuclear
reactions) balances the
gravitational pull
toward the Suns center.
Called Hydrostatic
Equilibrium.
This balance leads to a
spherical ball of gas,
called the Sun.
What would happen if
the nuclear reactions
(burning) stopped?

Main Regions of the Sun

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
The Moons orbit around the
Earth would easily fit within
the Sun!

Luminosity of the Sun

= LSUN
(Total light energy
emitted per second)

~ 4 x 1026 W
100 billion onemegaton nuclear bombs
every second!

Solar constant:
LSUN 4R2
(energy/second/area
at the radius of
Earths orbit)

The Solar Interior

Helioseismology
In the 1960s, it was
discovered that the
surface of the Sun
vibrates like a bell
Internal pressure
waves reflect off the
photosphere
Analysis of the
surface patterns of
these waves tell us
about the inside of the
Sun

How do we know the interior

structure of the Sun?

The Standard Solar Model

Energy Transport within the Sun

Extremely hot core - ionized gas
No electrons left on atoms to capture photons - core/interior is transparent to
light (radiation zone)
Temperature falls further from core - more and more non-ionized atoms
capture the photons - gas becomes opaque to light in the convection zone
The low density in the photosphere makes it transparent to light - radiation
takes over again

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

Solar Granules are the tops of convection cells.

Bright regions are where hot material is upwelling
(1000 km across).
Dark regions are where cooler material is sinking.
Material rises/sinks @ ~1 km/sec (2200 mph; Doppler).

The Solar Atmosphere

The solar spectrum has
thousands of absorption
lines
More than 67 different
elements are present!
Hydrogen is the most
abundant element followed
by Helium (1st discovered
in the Sun!)
Spectral lines only tell us about the part of the Sun
that forms them (photosphere and chromosphere)
but these elements are also thought to be
representative of the entire Sun.

Chromosphere

Chromosphere (seen during full Solar eclipse)

Chromosphere emits very little light because it is of low density

Reddish hue due to 32 (656.3 nm) line emission from Hydrogen

Chromospheric Spicules:
warm jets of matter
shooting out at ~100 km/s
last only minutes
Spicules are thought to
the result of magnetic
disturbances

H light

Transition Zone and Corona

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)

Corona (seen during full Solar eclipse)

Hot coronal gas
escapes the Sun
Solar wind

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.

Hot coronal gas (~1,000,000 K) emits mostly in X-rays.

Coronal holes
are sources of
the solar wind
(lower density
regions)

Coronal holes
are related to the
Suns magnetic
field

The Active Sun

UV light

Most of theSolar luminosity is continuous photosphere emission.

But, there is an irregular component
(contributing little to the Suns total luminosity).

Sunspots

Granulation around sunspot

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 magnetic field in a sunspot

is 1000x greater than the
surrounding area
Sunspots are almost always in
pairs at the same latitude with
each member having opposite
polarity
All sunspots in the same
hemisphere have the same
magnetic configuration

The Suns differential rotation distorts the magnetic field lines

The twisted and tangled field lines occasionally get kinked, causing the field
strength to increase
tube of lines bursts through atmosphere creating sunspot pair

Sunspot Cycle
Solar maximum is
reached every ~11 years

Solar Cycle is 22 years long direction of magnetic field

polarity flips every 11 years (back to original orientation every 22 years)

Heating of the Corona

Charged particles (mostly
protons and electrons) are
accelerated along magnetic field
lines above sunspots.
This type of activity, not light
energy, heats the corona.

Charged particles follow magnetic fields between sunspots:

Solar Prominences

Sunspots are cool,

but the gas above
them is hot!

Solar Prominence
Typical size is 100,000 km
May persist for days or weeks

Earth

Very large solar prominence (1/2 million km across base,

i.e. 39 Earth diameters) taken from Skylab in UV light.

Solar Flares much more violent magnetic instabilities

5 hours
Particles in the flare are so energetic, the magnetic field cannot bring them
back to the Sun they escape Suns gravity

Coronal
activity
increases
with the
number of
sunspots.

What makes the Sun shine?

4H

Nuclear Fusion

He

The Proton-Proton
Chain:

But where does the

Energy come from?

E=mc2
(c = speed of light)

c2 is a very large number!

A little mass equals a LOT of energy.
Example:
1 gram of matter 1014 Joules (J) of energy.
Enough to power a 100 Watt light bulb for ~32,000 years!

But where does the

Energy come from!?

E=mc2
(c = speed of light)

The total mass decreases during a fusion reaction.

Mass lost is converted to Energy:
6.693 10-27 kg
6.645 10-27 kg
0.048 10-27 kg

Mass of 4 H Atoms =
Mass of 1 He Atom =
Difference
=
(% m converted to E)

(0.7%)

The sun has enough mass to fuel its current

energy output for another 5 billion years

 Nuclear fusion requires temperatures

of at least 107 K why?
Atomic nuclei are positively charged
they repel via the electromagnetic
force.
Merging nuclei (protons in
Hydrogen) require high speeds.
(Higher temperature faster motion)
At very close range, the strong nuclear force takes over,
binding protons and neutrons together (FUSION).
Neutrinos are one byproduct.

The energy output from the core of the sun is in the form of
gammy rays. These are transformed into visible and IR light by
the time they reach the surface (after interactions with particles in the Sun).

Neutrinos are almost

non-interacting with
matter So they
stream out freely.

Neutrinos provide important tests of nuclear energy generation.

Detecting Solar Neutrinos these light detectors measure photons

emitted by rare chlorine-neutrino reactions in the fluid.
Solar Neutrino Problem: There
are fewer observed neutrinos
than theory predicts (!)
A discrepancy between theory
and experiments could mean we
have the Suns core temperature
wrong.
But probably means we have
more to learn about neutrinos!
(Neutrinos might oscillate
into something else, a little like
radioactive decays)