Welcome!

Sun and
Seasons
Photo from http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/bestofsoho.html

Created by the Lunar and Planetary Institute

For Educational Use Only
LPI is not responsible for the ways in which this powerpoint may be used or altered.
 What are we going to cover

• Properties of the Sun

• Influence on Earth:
– Gravity
– Light
– Solar wind
• Life cycle of the Sun
• Seasons

Photo from http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/bestofsoho.html

 The Sun

• Is a star
• Made of gases 70% hydrogen and 28% helium

• Is our primary
source of energy Light (radiation)

Image at
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/images/chromosphere/LimbFlareJan12_strip2.jpg
 How Big is the Sun?

Activity: Let’s measure the Sun

 How Big is the Sun?

About 110 times

wider than Earth
Or
1.3 million times
bigger than
Earth

Photo from http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/bestofsoho.html

 How does our Sun compare to other Stars?

• Active stars range in Our Sun is a dwarf—medium

size from supergiants to mass
dwarfs
• Stars range from very Our Sun is a medium-bright
bright (supergiants) to dwarf
very dim (dwarfs)
• Stars range from very
hot blue on the outside Our Sun is in-between--yellow
(O class) to cool red on
the outside (M class)
 So is our Sun an average star?

• No—most stars are smaller and cooler than our Sun

BUT
• Most of the bright stars we see are bigger and hotter
Rotation

High cadence solar rotation, EIT 195Š(Dec. 10-24, 1999) Movie at

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/Movies/EITdec99/EITdec99sm.mpg

At the equator, the Sun rotates once every 25.4 days

Near its poles, the Sun rotates once every 36 days
Known as “differential rotation”
 Sun’s Magnetic Field
• Winds up due to differential rotation
• Eventually forms loops and becomes tangled

Animation of how the Sun's magnetic field winds up and loops out.
Movie at
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/Movies/dynamo/dynamos
m.mpg
 Inside the Sun

• Core
• Radiative Zone
• Convection zone

Image at http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/interior.shtml
 The Sun’s Atmosphere

• Photosphere

• Chromosphere

• Corona
Photosphere image: http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/surface.htm
Chromosphere image: http://science.msfc.nasa.gov/ssl/pad/solar/chromos.htm
Corona image: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=191
 Energy from the Sun
• Nuclear chain reaction (hydrogen forming
helium)
• Releases radiation (gamma rays)
• The gamma ray loses energy as it bounces
around inside the Sun
• It is finally released at the photosphere,
primarily as visible light

Image at http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/interior.shtml
 Features in the Photosphere
• Sunspots
– Dark and small (but brighter than Full Moon and big
as Earth)
– Cool-- temperatures only 6,200 F (Sun’s surface is
10,000 F)
– Associated with magnetic fields: one set of spots is
positive, other is negative
Image at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/gallery/top10/top10_results.html
 More on Sunspots

• Our Sun has an activity cycle of

11 years

• Sunspots appear at specific

latitudes on Sun
– Bands of latitude move towards
equator during cycle

Images at
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/q
uestion17.html

and
 Solar Events
• Flares (Explosions of energy on the surface of the Sun)
• Prominences
• Coronal Mass Ejections (massive clouds of plasma
ejected from the Sun)

Movie: Six months with EIT 171 (Aug. 12, 2003 - Feb. 9,
2004)
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/Movies/17
1/EIT171sm.mpg
 Solar Wind
• Blows charged particles and magnetic fields away from the Sun
• Charged particles captured by Earth’s magnetic field
• Create Auroras or Northern and Southern Lights

Image at http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/the_key.shtml
 Auroras
• Electrons from solar wind are captured by the Earth’s magnetic field
• Interact with atoms in our atmosphere: oxygen and nitrogen make red
and green; nitrogen can also make violet
• Northern lights are Aurora Borealis, while southern are Aurora Australis

Animation of solar wind impacting the magnetosphere

and creating aurora
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/Movies/ani
mation/Solarwind.mpg
 Coronal Mass Ejection

This series of images of coronal mass ejections taken with

LASCO C3 (May 1-31, 1997) at
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoho/Movies/C3May9
7/C3May97sm.mpg

The eruption of a huge bubble of hot gas from the Sun

 CME’s effects on Earth
• Can damage satellites
• Very dangerous to astronauts
• Power problems

Animation of a CME leaving the Sun,

slamming into our magnetosphere.
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/bestofsoh
o/Movies/recon/reconsm.mpg
 Activities

• Let’s go observe the Sun

• Sunspot graphing
 Influences on Earth

• Gravity
• Light (Radiation)
• Solar Wind (already discussed)
 Gravity

• Orbits
– The Sun’s powerful gravity keeps
the planets in orbit
 Radiation
• Our Sun (and all active stars) emits radiation
– Radio, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, x-ray and even some
gamma rays
– Most of the sunlight is yellow-green visible light or close to it

The Sun at X-ray wavelengths

Image and info at

http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/teachers/gammaraybursts/imagine/page18.html and
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/solar_system_level2/sun.html
 Activities on Sunlight

• UV Man (or woman, or dog, bug, etc.)

• Observations of infrared light using filters and cell
phones
 Sun’s Radiation at Earth
• The Earth’s atmosphere filters out some frequencies
– Ozone layer protects us from some ultra-violet, and most x-
rays and gamma rays
– Water and oxygen absorb some radio waves
– Water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone absorbs some
infrared

Electromagnetic spectrum
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/ir_tutorial/what_is_ir.html
.
 Sunlight is absorbed by Earth

Let’s test what happens to the light.

Activity Time!!
 Sunlight is absorbed by Earth

• The Sun does NOT send “heat rays” into space.

Some of its light is infrared, but that is not the same
thing as heat.

• The Sun’s light is absorbed by Earth (clouds, plants,

oceans, rock…)

• By absorbing the light, we are transforming it into

heat energy
 Sun as a Source of Energy
• Light from the Sun is absorbed by the Earth, unevenly
to:
– drive wind bands – which drive surface currents
– drive deep ocean currents
– drive water cycle
– drive weather

NASA image at http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=107 Credit: NASA GSFC Water and Energy Cycle
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/news/grace-20061212.html
 Sun as a Source of Energy

• Plants need light for photosynthesis

• Without its heat, the only inhabitable areas on Earth
would be near volcanic vents

Images from http://nasadaacs.eos.nasa.gov/articles/2005/2005_rainforest.html and

http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/tpf_book/gallery/4-2a.html
 Young
stars form
in nebulae
from Small
Magellanic Cloud

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2007/04/image/a/results/50/
Star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud:
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/31/image/a/results/50/
Orion image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/01/image/a/results/50/
 Our Sun is a Regular/ Small Star

Image at http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20011210insidesun.html
 In a few Billion years… Red Giant

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/1997/26/image/a/
 Our Sun’s Habitable Zone
Billions of years ago, things may
have been different
– The Sun was cooler (by up to
30%!)
– Earth’s atmosphere was different
(thicker, carbon dioxide)
Animation at
http://www.nasa.gov/97994mai
• Conditions will be different in then_BHabitableZone.MPG
future
– By many accounts, increases in
the Sun’s temperature will make
Earth uninhabitable in 1 billion
years or less
– These changes will also affect
other planets… Mars?
 By 5 billion years… White Dwarf

Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/planetary/1998/39/results/50/
Image at
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/planetary/2000/28/image/a/format/web_print/results/50/
Image at http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/planetary/2004/27/image/a/format/large_web/results/50/
 Massive
Stars are
different

Image from
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/emission/1997/33/results/50/
 Betelgeuse

Image from http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star/massive%20star/1996/04/image/a/results/50/

 Supernova—Massive Star Explodes

Images at
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/star/supernova/2004/09/results/50/
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/nebula/supernova-remnant/2005/37/results/50/
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2009/casa/
 Done with the Sun

• Time for Seasons!