Sun's profile Flashcards
What is the photosphere?
The sun’s visible surface
What is the chromosphere?
An irregular layer of atmosphere above the photosphere.
What is the convective zone?
A region where energy is carried by convection cells
What is the radiative zone?
Area where energy travels in the form of photons
What happens at the core?
Nuclear reactions occur
About how many years does it take light (EM radiation) to travel out of the radiative zone?
Approximately 1 million years
How old is the Sun?
Approximately 4.6 billion years old
How much more massive is the sun than all other solar system planets?
750 times the mass of all other planets in the solar system
What are the layers of the sun starting with the center to the outside surface?
Core Radiative zone Convective zone Photosphere Chromosphere
What elements compose the sun ?
Hydrogen=71%
Helium=27%
What is the sun’s average distance from earth?
93 million miles
What is the surface temperature of the sun?
9,932 F
5,500 C
What is the temperature of the sun’s core?
27 million F
15 million C
What is the diameter of the sun’s equator?
864,900 miles
1.4 million km
What is the mass of the sun relative to the earth?
Mass=333,000
Earth=1
Coronal Mass Ejection
A bubble of plasma ejected from the sun into space
Why does the sun’s surface look granular?
The mottling of the surface is caused by convection cells
Faculae
Intensely bright active regions that are associated with the appearance of sunspots
Prominence
A dense cloud of gas, suspended above the sun’s surface by magnetic field loops that may persist for days or even weeks
Spicules
Short lived jets of gas that are 6000 miles long
Sunspots
Each sunspot has s dark central region, the umbra, and a lighter periphery, the penumbra. Away from the sunspots, the sun’s surface looks granulated. Each granule is the top of a convection cell in the sun’s interior
Joseph Von Fraunhofer
A German physicist and optical instrument maker, Joseph Von Fraunhofer (1787-1826) is best known for his investigation of dark lines in the sun’s spectrum. Now known as Fraunhofer lines, they correspond to wavelengths of light absorbed by chemical elements in the outer parts of the sun’s atmosphere. Fraunhofer’s observations were later used to help determine the composition of the sun and other stars.
