Astronomy 1021 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Maunder Minimum, Solar Minimum, Solar Maximum

• School: Western University
• Department: Astronomy
• Course: Astronomy 1021
• Professor: Chris Racknor

Document Summary

Gravitaional contracion is a process where the sun creates energy by slowly contracing in size: this was later disproved because the sun is too old. The sun shines by convering mass into energy through nuclear fusion. Gravitaional contracing released the energy that made the sun"s core hot enough for fusion. Basically pressure balances gravity and fusion energy balances the energy radiated into space. Giant ball of plasma, which is a gas in which atoms are ionized because of the high temperature. Sunspots are dark splotches on the sun"s surface. Power is deined as the rate at which energy is used or released: the standard unit of power is a wat (1 joule of energy per second) The sun"s total power output is also called its luminosity. Solar wind is the stream if charged paricles coninually blown outward in all direcions from the sun.