Solar atmosphere
PHOTOSPHERE
Although there are no fires on the surface of the Sun, the photosphere seethes and roils, displaying the effects of the underlying convection.
Solar Atmosphere Gets Hot
Sun Corona Animation
Dancing Coronal Loop Images
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Solar Atmosphere
the atmosphere of the Sun. An atmosphere is generally the outermost gaseous layers of a planet, natural satellite, or star. Only bodies with a strong gravitational pull can retain an atmosphere.
The solar atmosphere comprises:
The photosphere, about 500 km thick, with a temperature of ~ 6,000 K,
The chromosphere, about 10, 000 km thick, with a temperature of ~ 4,000-400,000 K, ...
The outer solar atmosphere, which extends for several solar radii from the disk of the sun, is the corona. All the structural details in the corona are due to the magnetic field.
A layer deep in the solar atmosphere can be used to estimate the speed of the solar wind, a stream of electrified gas that constantly blows from the Sun.
telluric lines Absorption lines in a solar spectrum produced by constituents of the atmosphere of the earth itself rather than by gases in the outer solar atmosphere such as those responsible for the Fraunhofer lines.
A localized, transient volume of the solar atmosphere in which PLAGEs, SUNSPOTS, FACULAe, FLAREs, etc. may be observed. ACTIVE SURGE REGION (ASR). An ACTIVE REGION that exhibits a group or series of spike-like surges that rise above the limb.
discoverer of Pluto's moon Charon (331k jpg (Jim is the seated figure at left)) chromosphere the lower level of the solar atmosphere between the photosphere and the corona colles small hills or knobs.
Chromosphere The layer of the solar atmosphere that is located above the photosphere and beneath the transition region and the corona. The chromosphere is hotter than the photosphere but not as hot as the corona.
CDS, EIT, LASCO, SUMER, SWAN, and UVCS are used for this solar atmosphere remote sensing.
* Making observations of solar wind and associated phenomena in the vicinty of L1. CELIAS and CEPAC are used for "in situ" solar wind observations.
Results published in 2004 using data from the TRACE spacecraft seem to indicate that there are waves in the solar atmosphere at frequencies as high as 100 mHz (10 second period).
9, when we look at the Sun, we are actually peering down into the solar atmosphere to a depth that depends on the wavelength of the light under consideration.
As a result, the planets orbiting the young Sun were subjected to intense X-ray and ultraviolet radiation emitted by the hot gas in the Solar atmosphere.
The parts of the Sun above the photosphere are referred to collectively as the solar atmosphere.
Magnetic reconnection can happen in the solar atmosphere because it is hot enough to separate electrons from atoms, producing a gas of electrically charged particles called plasma.
And, like the Earth, the solar atmosphere has distinctive layers. The photosphere is the deepest atmospheric layer and is the one most easily visible to us.
Solar flares affect all layers of the solar atmosphere , heating Plasma to tens of million Kelvin and accelerating electrons, protons and heavier ions to near the speed of light....
Green used Hinode data to show that a flux rope formed in the solar atmosphere in the days that preceded the 7 December 2007 event, manifesting as an S-shaped structure in Hinode's Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope.
Magnetic field lines loop through the solar atmosphere and interior to form a complicated web of magnetic structures. Many of these structures are visible in the chromosphere and corona, the outermost layers of the Sun's atmosphere.
Solar Atmosphere
Moving outward from the core to the surface of the Sun, the temperature and density of the gas decreases. This trend in the density continues outward in the Sun's atmosphere.
The middle layer of the solar atmosphere between the photosphere and the corona. The chromosphere is roughly 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles) thick and is composed primarily of hydrogen.
The only visible layers of the Sun are the photosphere and the solar atmosphere. How is it possible for astronomers to develop an understanding for the nature of the interior of the Sun?
Five instruments are concerned with collecting data from the solar atmosphere or solar corona and the underlying photosphere.
(b) The part of the Solar atmosphere between the photosphere and the corona.
Schuster has shown (Astrophys. Journ., vol. xvi.) that, if for the sake of argument the solar atmosphere be taken as homogeneous in temperature and quality, forming a sheet which itself radiates as well as absorbs, ...
The outermost layer of the solar atmosphere, characterized by low densities (1.0E+06 degrees K) that extends to several solar radii. The heating of the corona is still a mystery.
active region--Part of the solar atmosphere that is associated with a magnetic field where solar events often take place.
adiabatic expansion--The expansion and cooling of a gas in which it neither gains or loses energy ...
Similarly, as one proceeds upwards from the photosphere, layers of the solar atmosphere become increasingly rarefied, and become transparent to the light coming from below them.
Solar flare An enormous explosion of gas in the solar atmosphere resulting in a sudden burst of particle acceleration, the heating of plasma and the eruption of large amounts of solar mass. This image of a solar flare is courtesy of NASA JSC.
The density of the solar atmosphere continues to decrease with height, but the temperature increases.
For decades, astronomers have been able to observe gravity allow cooler gas to rise and then fall in the solar atmosphere.
Definition: corona: the uppermost level of the solar atmosphere, characterized by low densities and high temperatures (> 1.0E+06? K).
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=color sphere], layer of rarefied, transparent gases in the solar atmosphere; it measures 6,000 mi (9,700 km) in thickness and lies between the photosphere (the sun's visible surface) and the corona (its outer atmosphere).
Such limb darkening occurs because the solar atmosphere increases in temperature with depth. At the centre of the solar disk, an observer sees the deepest and warmest layers that emit the most light.
solar flare
A violent eruption of gases into the solar atmosphere from the solar photosphere.
solar mass
Defined as a unit of mass equal to the mass of the Sun. It is useful to define the mass of stars.
transition region: The layer in the solar atmosphere between the chromosphere and the corona.
triple alpha process: The nuclear fusion process that combines three helium nuclei (alpha particles) to make one carbon nucleus.
Corona
Faint white extensions of the outer solar atmosphere, best seen at a total eclipse of the sun.
Solar flare - A sudden, rapid and intense variation in brightness that occurs when magnetic energy built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released.
Supermassive star - A star with a mass at least 15 times that of the Sun.
solar flare An outburst caused by the sudden release of energy that heats and accelerates matter in the solar atmosphere, and produces a sudden brightening over a wide range of wavelengths.
In the case of the sun, one sees the continuum spectrum coming from the solar surface, or photosphere, with absorption lines produced by gas in the surrounding solar atmosphere.
They usually contain old stars and are distributed spherically about the center of . Theorists predict that the centers of globular clusters should contain , and the gas expelled from solar atmospheres should be present.
These images, taken March 7, 1996, by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), show an ultraviolet image of the 1 million degree plumes and an ultraviolet image of the "quiet" solar atmosphere closer to the surface.
(Such an effect does not happen in the turbulent, convective solar atmosphere.) Epsilon Serpentis provides a fine example. Calcium is present at 15 percent that of normal (solar), scandium at 5 percent, just as expected.
 See also: Solar, Atmosphere, Sun, Corona, Field
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