Solar phenomena are natural phenomena which occur within the atmosphere of the Sun. They take many forms, including solar wind, radio wave flux, solar flares, coronal mass ejections, coronal heating and sunspots.
These phenomena are believed to be generated by a helical dynamo, located near the center of the Sun's mass, which generates strong magnetic fields, as well as a chaotic dynamo, located near the surface, which generates smaller magnetic field fluctuations. All solar fluctuations together are referred to as solar variation, producing space weather within the Sun's gravitational field.
Solar activity and related events have been recorded since the eighth century BCE. Throughout history, observation technology and methodology advanced, and in the 20th century, interest in astrophysics surged and many solar telescopes were constructed. The 1931 invention of the coronagraph allowed the corona to be studied in full daylight.
Sun
The Sun is a star located at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma and magnetic fields. It has a diameter of about , around 109 times that of Earth, and its mass (1.989 kilograms, approximately 330,000 times that of Earth) accounts for some 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Chemically, about three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen, while the rest is mostly helium. The remaining 1.69% (equal to 5,600 times the mass of Earth) consists of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon and iron.
The Sun formed about 4.567 billionAll numbers in this article are short scale. One billion is 109, or 1,000,000,000. years ago from the gravitational collapse of a region within a large molecular cloud. Most of the matter gathered in the center, while the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that became the balance of the Solar System. The central mass became increasingly hot and dense, eventually initiating thermonuclear fusion in its core.
The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V) based on spectral class, and it is informally designated as a yellow dwarf because its visible radiation is most intense in the yellow-green portion of the spectrum. It is actually white, but from the Earth's surface, it appears yellow because of atmospheric scattering of blue light. In the spectral class label, G2 indicates its surface temperature, of approximately 5770 K ( the UAI will accept in 2014 5772 K ) and V indicates that the Sun, like most stars, is a main-sequence star, and thus generates its energy via fusing hydrogen into helium. In its core, the Sun fuses about 620 million metric tons of hydrogen each second.
The Earth's mean distance from the Sun is approximately , though the distance varies as the Earth moves from perihelion in January to aphelion in July. At this average distance, light travels from the Sun to Earth in about 8 minutes, 19 seconds. The energy of this sunlight supports almost all lifeHydrothermal vent communities live so deep under the sea that they have no access to sunlight. Bacteria instead use sulfur compounds as an energy source, via chemosynthesis. on Earth by photosynthesis, and drives Earth's climate and weather. As recent as the 19th century, scientists had little knowledge of the Sun's physical composition and source of energy. This understanding is still developing; a number of present-day anomalies in the Sun's behavior remain unexplained.
Solar cycle
Many solar phenomena change periodically over an average interval of about 11 years. This solar cycle affects solar irradiation and influences space weather, terrestrial weather, and climate.
The solar cycle also modulates the flux of short-wavelength solar radiation, from ultraviolet to X-ray and influences the frequency of solar flares, coronal mass ejections and other solar eruptive phenomena.
Types
Coronal mass ejections
A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona. Near solar maxima, the Sun produces about three CMEs every day, whereas solar minima feature about one every five days. CMEs, along with solar flares of other origin, can disrupt radio transmissions and damage satellites and electrical transmission line facilities, resulting in potentially massive and long-lasting power outages.Wired world is increasingly vulnerable to coronal ejections from the Sun, Aviation Week & Space Technology, 14 January 2013 issue, pp. 49–50: "But the most serious potential for damage rests with the transformers that maintain the proper voltage for efficient transmission of electricity through the grid."
Coronal mass ejections often appear with other forms of solar activity, most notably solar flares, but no causal relationship has been established. Most weak flares do not have CMEs; however, most powerful ones do. Most ejections originate from active regions on the Sun's surface, such as sunspot groupings associated with frequent flares. Other forms of solar activity frequently associated with coronal mass ejections are eruptive prominences, coronal dimming, coronal waves and Moreton waves, also called solar tsunami.
Magnetic reconnection is responsible for CME and solar flares. Magnetic reconnection is the name given to the rearrangement of magnetic field lines when two oppositely directed magnetic fields are brought together. This rearrangement is accompanied with a sudden release of energy stored in the original oppositely directed fields. NASA Science
When a CME impacts the Earth's magnetosphere, it temporarily deforms the Earth's magnetic field, changing the direction of compass needles and inducing large electrical ground currents in Earth itself; this is called a geomagnetic storm, and it is a global phenomenon. CME impacts can induce magnetic reconnection in Earth's magnetotail (the midnight side of the magnetosphere); this launches protons and electrons downward toward Earth's atmosphere, where they form the aurora.
Flares
A solar flare is a sudden flash of brightness observed over the Sun's surface or the solar limb, which is interpreted as an energy release of up to 6 × 1025 joules (about a sixth of the total Sun's energy output each second or 160 billion megatons of TNT equivalent, over 25,000 times more energy than released from the impact of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 with Jupiter). It may be followed by a coronal mass ejection. The flare ejects clouds of electrons, ions and atoms through the corona into space. These clouds typically reach Earth a day or two after the event.Menzel, Whipple, and de Vaucouleurs, "Survey of the Universe", 1970 Similar phenomena in other stars are known as stellar flares.
Solar flares strongly influence space weather near the Earth. They can produce streams of highly energetic particles in the solar wind, known as a solar proton event. These particles can impact the Earth's magnetosphere in the form of a geomagnetic storm and present radiation hazards to spacecraft and astronauts.
Solar proton events
A solar proton event (SPE), or "proton storm", occurs when particles (mostly protons) emitted by the Sun become accelerated either close to the Sun during a flare or in interplanetary space by CME shocks. The events can include other nuclei such as helium ions and HZE ions. These particles cause multiple effects. They can penetrate the Earth's magnetic field and cause ionization in the ionosphere. The effect is similar to auroral events, except that protons rather than electrons are involved. Energetic protons are a significant radiation hazard to spacecraft and astronauts.Contribution of High Charge and Energy (HZE) Ions During Solar-Particle Event of September 29, 1989 Kim, Myung-Hee Y.; Wilson, John W.; Cucinotta, Francis A.; Simonsen, Lisa C.; Atwell, William; Badavi, Francis F.; Miller, Jack, NASA Johnson Space Center; Langley Research Center, May 1999. Energetic protons can reach Earth within 30 minutes of a major flare's peak.
Prominences
A prominence is a large, bright, gaseous feature extending outward from the Sun's surface, often in the shape of a loop. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface in the photosphere and extend outwards into the corona. While the corona consists of high temperature plasma, which does not emit much visible light, prominences contain much cooler plasma, similar in composition to that of the chromosphere.
Prominence plasma is typically a hundred times cooler and denser than coronal plasma. A prominence forms over timescales of about an earthly day and may persist for weeks or months. Some prominences break apart and form CMEs.
A typical prominence extends over many thousands of kilometers; the largest on record was estimated at over long – roughly the solar radius.
When a prominence is viewed against the Sun instead of space, it appears darker than the background. This formation is called a solar filament. It is possible for a projection to be both a filament and a prominence. Some prominences are so powerful that they eject matter at speeds ranging from 600 km/s to more than 1000 km/s. Other prominences form huge loops or arching columns of glowing gases over sunspots that can reach heights of hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
Sunspots
Sunspots are relatively dark areas on the Sun's radiating 'surface' (photosphere) where intense magnetic activity inhibits convection and cools the Photosphere. Faculae are slightly brighter areas that form around sunspot groups as the flow of energy to the photosphere is re-established and both the normal flow and the sunspot-blocked energy elevate the radiating 'surface' temperature. Scientists began speculating on possible relationships between sunspots and solar luminosity in the 17th century. Luminosity decreases caused by sunspots (generally < - 0.3%) are correlated with increases (generally < + 0.05%) caused both by faculae that are associated with active regions as well as the magnetically active 'bright network'.
The net effect during periods of enhanced solar magnetic activity is increased radiant solar output because faculae are larger and persist longer than sunspots. Conversely, periods of lower solar magnetic activity and fewer sunspots (such as the Maunder Minimum) may correlate with times of lower irradiance.Rodney Viereck, NOAA Space Environment Center. The Sun-Climate Connection
Sunspot activity has been measured using the Wolf number for about 300 years. This index (also known as the Zürich number) uses both the number of sunspots and the number of sunspot groups to compensate for measurement variations. A 2003 study found that sunspots had been more frequent since the 1940s than in the previous 1150 years.
Sunspots usually appear as pairs with opposite magnetic polarity. Detailed observations reveal patterns, in yearly minima and maxima and in relative location. As each cycle proceeds, the latitude of spots declines, from 30 to 45° to around 7° after the solar maximum. This latitudinal change follows Spörer's law.
For a sunspot to be visible to the human eye it must be about 50,000 km in diameter, covering or 700 millionths of the visible area. Over recent cycles, approximately 100 sunspots or compact sunspot groups are visible from Earth.
Sunspots expand and contract as they move about and can travel at a few hundred meters per second when they first appear.
Wind
The solar wind is a stream of plasma released from the Sun's upper atmosphere. It consists of mostly electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in density, temperature and speed over time and over solar longitude. These particles can escape the Sun's gravity because of their high energy.