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Solar exploration
- 1. Solar Exploration UCLDEPARTMENT OF SPACE AND CLIMATE PHYSICS MULLARD SPACE SCIENCE LABORATORY Santiago Vargas Domínguez, MSSL - Aug 4, 2009
- 2. UCL DEPARTMENT OFSPACE AND CLIMATE PHYSICS MULLARD SPACE SCIENCE LABORATORY Outline Introduction Solar observations Solar explosive events Solar telescopes Open questions
- 3. The Sun: Asmooth glowing disk and ... A normal GV2 star, one of more than 100 billion stars in our galaxy. Diameter: 1,390,000 km (Earth is 100 times smaller) Mass: 1.1989 x 10 30 kg (333,000 times Earth’s mass) Temperature: 5800 K (surface) 15,600,000 K (core) Contains more than 99.8% of the total mass of the Solar System Chemical composition: Hydrogen 92.1% , Helium 7.8%. Rest of the other 90 naturally occurring elements: 0.1%
- 4. Sun´s structure Energyis created in the core when hydrogen is fused to helium. This energy flows out from the core by radiation through the radiative zone, by convection through the convective zone, and by radiation from the surface of the photosphere, which is the portion of the Sun we see.
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- 7. The Solar cycleEvery 11 years, the Sun moves through a period of fewer, smaller sunspots, prominences, and flares - called a " solar minimum " - and a period of more, larger sunspots, prominences and flares - called a " solar maximum .“ After 11 years, when the next cycle starts, the magnetic field poles are reversed.
- 8. The Solar cycleMaximum Minimum
- 9. Observing the Sunin different wavelenghts
- 10. Solar sunspots GalileoGalilei´s drawings 1564-1642
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- 12. Solar flares Solarflares are tremendous explosions on the surface of the Sun. In a matter of just a few minutes they heat material to many millions of degrees and release as much energy as a billion megatons of TNT.
- 13. Solar prominences Denseclouds of material suspended above the surface of the Sun by loops of magnetic field. Prominences can remain for days or weeks. However, as the magnetic loops that support them slowly change, prominences can erupt and rise off of the Sun over the course of a few minutes or hours. Earth
- 14. Coronal Mass Ejections(CMEs) Are huge bubbles of gas threaded with magnetic field lines that are ejected from the Sun over the course of several hours.
- 15. Effects on EarthSolar wind shapes the Earth's magnetosphere. This can can disrupt communications and navigational equipment, damage satellites but bring us the the astonish Aurorae.
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- 18. Space missions Yohkoh1991-2001 SOHO since 1995 Hinode since 2006 STEREO since 2006
- 19. Open questions Why the Corona is hotter than the surface of the Sun ? Can we predict solar events (sunspots, flares, CME´s, etc) ? “ Coronal Heating Problem”
- 20. Thank you foryour attention
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- 22. Sun does notrotate as a rigid sphere. The equator of the Sun rotates faster than the poles of the Sun. This is called differential rotation. Sunspots and many other solar activities are due to this differential rotation.
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