Astronomy
1st Edition
ISBN: 9781938168284
Author: Andrew Fraknoi; David Morrison; Sidney C. Wolff
Publisher: OpenStax
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Textbook Question
Chapter 15, Problem 16E
Suppose an (extremely hypothetical) elongated sunspot forms that extends from a latitude of 30° to a latitude of 40° along a fixed of longitude on the Sun. How will the appearance of that sunspot change as the Sun rotates? (Figure 15.17 should help you figure this out.)
Figure 15.17 Magnetic Field Lines Wind Up. Because the Sun spins faster at the equator than near the poles, the magnetic fields in the Sun tend to wind up as shown, and after a while make loops. This is an idealized diagram; the real situation is much more complex.
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Chapter 15 Solutions
Astronomy
Ch. 15 - Describe the main differences between the...Ch. 15 - Describe how energy makes its way from the nuclear...Ch. 15 - Make a sketch of the Sun’s atmosphere showing the...Ch. 15 - Why do sunspots look dark?Ch. 15 - Which aspects of the Sun’s activity cycle have a...Ch. 15 - Summarize the evidence indicating that over...Ch. 15 - What it the Zeeman effect and what does it tell us...Ch. 15 - Explain how the theory of the Sun’s dynamo results...Ch. 15 - Compare and contrast the four different types of...Ch. 15 - What are the two sources of particles coming from...
Ch. 15 - How does activity on the Sun affect human...Ch. 15 - How does activity on the Sun affect natural...Ch. 15 - Table 15.1 indicates that the density of the Sun...Ch. 15 - Starting from the core of the Sun and going...Ch. 15 - Since the rotation period of the Sun can be...Ch. 15 - Suppose an (extremely hypothetical) elongated...Ch. 15 - The text explains that plages are found near...Ch. 15 - Why would a flare be observed in visible light,...Ch. 15 - How can the prominences, which are so big and...Ch. 15 - If you were concerned about space weather and...Ch. 15 - Suppose you live in northern Canada and an...Ch. 15 - The edge of the Sun doesn’t have to be absolutely...Ch. 15 - Show that the statement that 92% of the Sun’s...Ch. 15 - From Doppler shifts of the spectral lines in the...Ch. 15 - Assuming an average sunspot cycle of 11 years, how...Ch. 15 - This chapter gives the average sunspot cycle as 11...Ch. 15 - The escape velocity from any astronomical object...Ch. 15 - Suppose you observe a major solar flare while...Ch. 15 - Suppose an eruptive prominence rises at a speed of...Ch. 15 - From the information in Figure 15.21, estimate the...
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Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, physics and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.Similar questions
- Assuming an average sunspot cycle of 11 years, how many revolutions does the equator of the Sun make during that one cycle? Do higher latitudes make more or fewer revolutions compared to the equator?arrow_forwardIf a sunspot has a temperature of 4200 K and the average solar photosphere has a temperature of 5780 K, how much more energy is emitted in 1 second from a square meter of the photosphere compared to a square meter of the sunspot? (Hint: Use the Stefan-Boltzmann law, Eq. 7-1.)arrow_forwardWhy do sunspots look dark?arrow_forward
- Table 15.1 indicates that the density of the Sun is 1.41 g/cm3. Since other materials, such as ice, have similar densities, how do you know that the Sun is not made of ice?arrow_forwardNow suppose that all of the hydrogen atoms in the Sun were converted into helium. How much total energy would be produced? (To calculate the answer, you will have to estimate how many hydrogen atoms are in the Sun. This will give you good practice with scientific notation, since the numbers involved are very large! See Appendix C for a review of scientific notation.)arrow_forwardWhich aspects of the Sun’s activity cycle have a period of about 11 years? Which vary during intervals of about 22 years?arrow_forward
- From the information in Figure 15.21, estimate the speed with which the particles in the CME in parts (c) and (d) are moving away from the Sun. Figure 15.21 Flare and Coronal Mass Ejection. This sequence of four images shows the evolution over time of a giant eruption on the Sun. (a) The event began at the location of a sunspot group, and (b) a flare is seen in far-ultraviolet light. (c) Fourteen hours later, a CME is seen blasting out into space. (d) Three hours later, this CME has expanded to form a giant cloud of particles escaping from the Sun and is beginning the journey out into the solar system. The white circle in (c) and (d) shows the diameter of the solar photosphere. The larger dark area shows where light from the Sun has been blocked out by a specially designed instrument to make it possible to see the faint emission from the corona. (credit a, b, c, d: modification of work by SOHO/EIT, SOHO/LASCO, SOHO/MDI (ESA & NASA))arrow_forwardWhat do measurements of the number of neutrinos emitted by the Sun tell us about conditions deep in the solar interior?arrow_forwardWhy do you suppose so great a fraction of the Sun’s energy comes from its central regions? Within what fraction of the Sun’s radius does practically all of the Sun’s luminosity originate (see Figure 16.16)? Within what radius of the Sun has its original hydrogen been partially used up? Discuss what relationship the answers to these questions bear to one another. Figure 16.16 shows how the temperature, density, rate of energy generation, and composition vary from the center of the Sun to its surface.arrow_forward
- What is the average density of the Sun? How does it compare to the average density of Earth?arrow_forwardThis chapter gives the average sunspot cycle as 11 years. Verify this using Figure 15.26. Figure 15.26 Numbers of Sunspots over Time. This diagram shows how the number of sunspots has changed with time since counts of the numbers of spots began to be recorded on a consistent scale. Note the low number of spots during the early years of the nineteenth century, the Little Maunder Minimum. (credit: modification of work by NASA/ARC)arrow_forwardMake a sketch of the Sun’s atmosphere showing the locations of the photosphere, chromosphere, and corona. What is the approximate temperature of each of these regions?arrow_forward
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