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Last Post 3/21/2012 2:47 PM by  Hazel Bain
Sun Regions
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Anonymous





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3/18/2012 9:52 PM
    How do you know that there are different regions in the sun? (Nick C.) (FWMS)

    Terry Kucera



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    Posts:328
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    3/19/2012 6:46 AM

    Hi Nick,

    Are you talking about the solar interior or surface? I am guessing the interior.

    Scientists figured this out with a combinations of physics theory and observations.

    We know the size, mass, and temperature of the Sun by observing it and how the planets orbit about it. We know its approximate age by assuming it must be at least as old as the Earth and Moon (about 5 billion years). Putting all these together, we have only one power source (nuclear fusion) which could kept is going for so long at the temperature we observe. From that it is possible to do physics calculations that predict what it should be like in different locations inside.

    In the last couple decades we have been able to use helioseismology (the study of the Sun's vibrations - see http://solar-center.stanf....edu/heliopage.html) to test the predictions about the temperature and density and related regions of the Sun's interior, and it turns out the predictions are quite good.

    cheers,

    Terry


    Hazel Bain



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    Posts:18
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    3/21/2012 2:47 PM

    Hi Nick,

    Above the solar surface (we call this the photosphere) we split the different heights of the atmosphere into different layers depending on their different features. It's a similar idea to the different parts of the Earth's atmosphere (troposphere, tropopause, stratosphere, ozone layer, mesosphere and ionosphere). In the Sun's atmosphere we have, going up in height, the photosphere, chromosphere, transition region and corona.The temperature changes in the different regions which means that each region radiates different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum i.e. they give off different kinds of light, from ultraviolet and infared light to x-rays and radio waves. By using filters on our telescopes we can observe the different the kinds of light and therefore see the different layers of the Sun's atmosphere. For example the photosphere can be seen in visible light, the chromosphere and transition region can be seen in ultraviolet and extreme ultraviolet and the corona can be seen in extreme ultraviolet and X-rays.

    Hazel

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