Swinburne Online Education Exploring the Solar System Module 19: The Sun

Activity 1:

The Sun: Source of

Heat & Light
© Swinburne University of Technology
Summary:

In this Activity, we will investigate

(a) why the Sun is so important to astronomers ...

(b) the temperature at the surface of the Sun ...
(c) the brightness of the Sun …

and …
(d) a few basic definitions and ideas

This will include a discussion of the inverse square law, and

the definitions of luminosity and flux.

You will also be introduced to some of the units and

conventions used in astronomy:
• scientific notation
• the Kelvin temperature scale
• the astronomical unit
• the lightyear
• the parsec
And now, let’s have a look at the Sun … carefully,
because looking directly at the Sun can permanently
damage your eyesight.
Don’t look at the
Sun itself ...
… only at a filtered, low-
intensity image
(a) Why the Sun Matters

The Sun is important to everything, living or non-living, in the

Solar System because:

• it is the gravitational centre around which the planetary

system moves

• it provides the planets with the heat and light

necessary for life and many other developments
“Sunrise, sunset …”

Since the earliest times, humans have realised the importance

of the Sun, venerating it as a deity or the chariot of a deity, and
sharing myths about why and how the Sun continues to rise
and set and what would happen if it didn’t.
A Model Star
However it provides a useful
Compared to most stars, the
model for us to study when we
Sun is not significant by any
seek information about stars in
means.
general.

The Sun’s place in the The Sun’s place in the

Milky Way Galaxy Solar System
(note: this is not actually the Milky Way,
but a similar spiral galaxy called NGC2997)
In particular,
• The Sun is much, much closer to us than any other star, and
therefore is a great deal easier to study in detail. The next
nearest star is about 250,000 times as far!

Earth to Sun: Earth to nearest star Earth to Earth to nearby

about (Proxima Centauri): Aldebaran: galaxies:
15 millionths 4.2 light years 60 light years about 3 million light years
of a light year

“What’s a
lightyear?”
Also,

• The Sun has been studied by astronomers for thousands of

years, and therefore data are available for the Sun which are
not available for other stars.
Physical properties of the Sun

There are two very obvious things humans notice about the
Sun:

• it is a source of heat, and

• it is a source of light.

So the Sun’s temperature and brightness make a pretty good

place to start.
(b) Surface Temperature “What’s
Kelvin?”

The surface temperature of the Sun is about 5780 Kelvin.

Interstellar space 3

Pluto 40

Jupiter 130

Mars 250

Earth 300

Venus 700

Boiling iron 3000

Betelgeuse 3500

The Sun 5780

Sirius A 10000 30000
Sirius B

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000

Temperature (K)
How the Sun’s Temperature is measured
When you turn on a heater, the element will glow red until it
warms up. Then the colour will become closer to yellow, or to
white.

low energy & high energy &

temperature temperature

The same thing happens with iron as it heats up. It glows

orange at first, then becomes more yellow or white in colour as
it warms up. Scientists say that it emits like a “black body”. To
a good approximation, stars also emit like a “black body”.
We tend to associate blue with cold and red with heat, but
that’s only because of what our blood vessels do when the day
is cold or hot.
You have to forget all about that, in astronomy...

low energy & high energy &

temperature temperature

The truth for the rest of the Universe is that

cooler stars are reddish;
hot stars are bluish.
(c) Luminosity

The luminosity of a source of light is a 25 W

measure of the power it can provide: that is,
how much energy it puts out per second.

25 W = 25 joules per second

Luminosity will vary from star to

star ...
and will also vary
during the life cycle of Luminosity
a star.
Time
The luminosity of the Sun at present
“What does
is 3.863 x 1026 Watts 1026 mean?”

equivalent to about 4,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

light globes.
This can be compared with the approximate luminosity of other nearby stars:

Betelgeuse
Antares

Arcturus

Procyon A
Sun = 1

0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000

luminosity
 Flux
Flux is the power passing through a unit area, so the units of flux
are watts m-2 (watts per square metre), or joules s-1 m-2 (joules per
second per square metre).
1 square metre 1 square metre

The power of the Sun Close to the Sun, the power

(luminosity) is measured in Further from the Sun, the
passing through a square metre power per square metre is
watts: is high (for instance, on the lower (for instance, on the
Power = 3.8 x 1026 W surface of Mercury) surface of Neptune)
The flux of energy at the surface of the Earth
depends on

• the luminosity of the Sun

What’s the
inverse
• the distance between the Earth and the Sun, square law?

according to the inverse square law

How bright? How far?

Luminosity = 3.8 x 1026 W Distance = 1.5 x 108 km

Changes in luminosity

If you alter the setting on a heater in your home, you will

quickly feel the effect on your own temperature.
Similarly, the surface temperature of the Earth will vary during
the Sun’s history, as the luminosity of the Sun varies.
Changes in distance:

You get colder as you move further from the heater.

In the same way, the surface temperature of planets further
from the Sun is almost always lower than that of planets closer
to the Sun, largely because of the decreased energy flux.

* Remember that AU stands for Astronomical Units, and

1 AU is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. Not to Scale!
Just for interest:

Here is a graph showing the distance of the planets from the Sun (in AU) plotted against
their average surface temperature (in degrees K).

Average 800 Venus is hotter than you’d

surface expect, as it is covered in thick
700 Mercury
cloud that keeps in the heat
temperature
(K) 600
500
400
300 Earth
Other than that, the further out
a planet is, the cooler it is
200
Jupiter
100 Pluto

0
0.1 1 10 100
Distance from Sun (AU)
This Activity focussed mainly on the temperature and
brightness of the Sun.

In the next Activity we will investigate more of the Sun’s

properties:
its mass and density, and what it is made of;
and we’ll take a first look at how it produces energy.
Image Credits
AAO: Clusters and nebulae © David Malin (reproduced with permission)
http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/dfm/dark_frames.html
AAO: Sprial galaxy NGC2997 © David Malin (used with permission)
http://www.aao.gov.au/images/general/galaxy_frames.html
Stonehenge (reproduced with permission)
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971217.html
NASA:
Solar flare
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970918.html
Skylab
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/photogallery-spacecraft.html
Hubble Deep field
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/hst_deep_big.gif
Now return to the Module home page, and read more
about the Sun in the Textbook Readings.

Hit the Esc key (escape)

to return to the Module 19 Home Page
The Kelvin temperature scale 1

The Kelvin temperature scale is the same as the Celsius scale,

except that the definition of zero is different.

The Celsius scale specifies 0 degrees as the temperature at which

water freezes.

On the other hand, the Kelvin scale specifies 0 degrees as the

temperature of an object in which the kinetic energy of the
particles making up the object is at a minimum. This is called
absolute zero (0 K).
The Kelvin temperature scale 2
Therefore, 273.15 degrees Kelvin is the freezing point of water
and 373.15 degrees Kelvin is the boiling point of water.

The Celsius scale is 273.15 degrees “out of sync”:

Kelvin 0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Celsius -273 -173 -73 27 127 227 327

Boiling
Melting
point of
point of ice
water
Back to
Activity
Scientific notation 1
In order to save writing heaps of zeroes, scientists and engineers use a system of
notation where very large numbers are written with the number of factors of ten as
an exponent.

For instance: 5 000 is written 5 x 103

6 000 000 000 is written 6 x 109
42 700 is written 4.27 x 104

Note that in scientific notation the aim is to present the number as a number
between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of ten: 4.27 x 104

On the other hand, engineering notation always presents the power of ten as a
multiple of 3, e.g. 42.7 x 103
Scientific notation 2
Also, in order to save writing heaps of decimal places, scientists and engineers use
a system of notation where very small numbers are written with the number of
factors of ten as an exponent.

For instance: 0.007 is written 7 x 10-3

0.00000010436 is written 1.0346 x 10-7
0.000060001 is written 6.0001 x 10-5

Note that in scientific notation the aim is to present the number as a number
between 1 and 10 multiplied by a power of ten: 6.0001 x 10-5

On the other hand, engineering notation presents the power of ten as a multiple of 3,
e.g. 60.001 x 10-6
Back to
Activity
Inverse square law 1

If something is being emitted with equal intensity in all

directions from a point source, it will obey the
“Inverse Square Law”.
Point source of light
Closer in, the intensity of light is
high as the light is only spread over
a small area

Further out, the intensity of

light is low as the light is
spread over a larger area
Inverse square law 2
Imagine that a star is emitting light equally in all directions.
At planet Alpha, the light is observed as
being fairly intense, as it is being shared
over a small area: Star
• small radius, therefore
• small area, therefore
• high light intensity.

At planet Beta, the light is being shared

over a larger area and so the intensity of
the light is far less:
• large radius, therefore
• large area, therefore
• low light intensity.
Inverse square law 3

Mathematically,

Note that the flux is proportional to the

inverse square of distance, which is
where the law gets its name from!
Back to
Activity
Units in Astronomy 1

Because astronomical distances and sizes tend to be so

large, our usual (Earthly) units of length (m, km and so on) are
clumsy. Instead you will frequently find astronomical
measurements made in one of these units:

• AU AU = astronomical unit
= average distance
• pc between Sun and Earth 1 AU
• ly = 1.496 x 1011 m
Units in Astronomy 2
Another astronomical unit of measure is the parsec, which uses
angle to measure the distance to other stars, galaxies and so on.
Even though the unit arose from measuring angles, it is a
measure of distance and not angle

• AU (based on distance)
d (in parsec)
• pc pc = parsec
= distance d at which 1 AU
perpendicular to the Angle
observer’s line of sight 1 AU (in seconds
subtends an angle of 1 of arc)
second of arc
= 3.086 x 1016 m
Units in Astronomy 3
A third astronomical unit of measure - the lightyear - came
from the knowledge that light takes a finite length of time to
travel through space.
The lightyear is the distance that light will travel in a year,
and 3.26 lightyears = 1 pc.

• AU (based on distance) 1 ly (distance)

• pc (based on angle)
• ly ly = lightyear … and is
= distance that light travels An event seen here a
in one year happens year later
= 9.461 x 1015 m here ...
Look-back time 1
The lightyear is a particularly useful unit because it reminds us
that what we see actually happened a while back, when the light
left the star (or planet) that we are looking at.
Let’s imagine that three stars A, B and C are all “born” at about
the same time. Because the stars are at different distances from
Earth, and light coming from them travels at a finite speed, light
which arrives at our eyes simultaneously must have been emitted
from each star at a different time.

B A
Look-back time 2
Light
Light
Light fromreceived
received from
star Bfrom
was star
star C Awas
emitted was emitted
emitted
more very
long
recently, recently.
ago.
and It the
so will
pictures usWe
give we will see
receive
pictures the
ofofB star
Cwill bejust
close of about
to the
when it as
star in it“middle
was looks today.
age”.
first formed.

C
looks young
B looks middle-aged A looks old

In this way, we can construct a series of images and ideas about the life
cycle of stars, using their distances to “travel in time” and see similar stars at
different stages of their development.
Pictures from C, then B, then A, will show us how that kind of star changes
with time.
Look-back time 3
For example ...

Distance = 1000 ly
We see this star as it Distance = 10 ly
was 1000 years ago
We see this star as it
was 10 years ago

Distance = 100 ly
We see this star as it
was 100 years ago

... when we examine these three stars, we are looking not just out into space but back in
time: hence the term “look-back time”.
In practice, “look-back time” is most useful when studying distant galaxies.
Back to Activity