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The Sun
Chapter 29
Composition of the Sun
• 75% of the sun’s mass is hydrogen.
• 99% of the sun’s mass is hydrogen and helium.
• A stars spectrum determines the amounts of
elements that are present in a star.
Nuclear Fusion
• Nuclear Fusion: the process by which nuclei of
small atoms combine to form a new, more
massive nucleus, which results in large
amounts of energy being released.
• Nuclear fusion produces the sun’s energy.
• In our sun hydrogen fuses into helium.
Nuclear Fusion
•In our sun hydrogen fuses into helium.
•The mass that is lost during fusion becomes
energy, we measure this energy using Einstein’s
equation E = mc2 .
The Sun’s Interior
• The Core: the center of the sun where it is
extremely hot and under high amounts of
pressure. (15,000,000 C)
The Sun’s Interior
• Radiative Zone: the zone of the sun’s interior
that is between the core and the convective
zone and in which energy moves by radiation.
The Sun’s Interior
• Convective Zone: the region of the sun’s
interior that is between the radiative zone and
the photosphere and in which energy is carried
upward by convection.
The Sun’s Atmosphere
• Photosphere: the innermost layer of the solar
atmosphere and is the visible surface of the
sun from which we see light.
The Sun’s Atmosphere
• Chromosphere: the thin layer of the sun that is
just above the photosphere and that glows a
reddish color during eclipses.
The Sun’s Atmosphere
• Corona: the outermost layer of the sun’s
atmosphere made of gas.
Sunspots
• Sunspot: a dark area of the photosphere of the
sun that is cooler than the surrounding areas
and that has a strong magnetic field.
Solar Ejections
• Prominence: a loop of relatively cool,
incandescent gas that extends above the
photosphere.
Solar Ejections
• Solar Flare: an explosive release of energy that
comes from the sun and that is associated with
magnetic disturbances on the sun’s surface.
Solar Ejections
• Coronal Mass Ejection: a part of coronal gas
that is thrown into space from the sun.
Auroras
• Aurora: colored light produced by charged
particles from the solar wind and from the
magnetosphere that react with and excite the
oxygen and nitrogen of Earth’s upper
atmosphere; usually seen in the sky near
Earth’s magnetic poles.