How Do Astronomers Know What Conditions Exist Inside The Sun

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How Do Astronomers Know What Conditions Exist Inside The Sun?

We cannot see inside the Sun. We can only observe the surface. … There are a number of different observations (such as vibrations on the Sun’s surface detections of solar neutrinos and measurements of elemental abundances on the surface) that allow astronomers to test and refine these models.Jun 28 2015

How do astronomers know what’s happening in the Sun?

Using the old solar abundances astronomers thought they had the sun’s interior figured out thanks to a technique known as helioseismology. Just as our world has earthquakes so the sun’s interior vibrates with sound waves.

How do we know what elements are in the Sun?

Scientists use spectroscopy to determine the composition of the Sun. Unlike the Earth the Sun is made primarily of light elements. … Using a technique called spectroscopy scientists analyze the absorption spectrum of the Sun in order to determine its chemical structure.

How do astronomers get information about the interior structures of the Sun quizlet?

Astronomers can glean an enormous amount of information about the Sun from an analysis of the absorption lines that arise in the photosphere and lower atmosphere. … Above the photosphere lies the cooler chromosphere the inner part of the solar atmosphere.

How do scientists know the Sun is a star?

He determined the distance to the star Sirius assuming that that star was as bright as the Sun and appeared faint only because of its great distance. He found that the distance to Sirius must be very great. At this time then the idea that the Sun is a star was considered seriously by scientists.

How do astronomers detect structure in the chromosphere?

How can astronomers detect structure in the chromosphere? Ans: The structure of the chromosphere is studied primarily using filtergrams. Filtergrams are images of the sun taken through a filter that lets in a very narrow wavelength band of light such as light emitted by the Hydrogen-alpha transition.

How do astronomers study the sun?

There are two ways that solar telescopes can gather information from the light emitted by the sun. There are spectrometers that can simultaneously observe different wavelengths of light generating graphs that give a composite picture of the temperature ranges in the material around the sun.

Did you know facts about the Sun?

Facts about the Sun

The Sun accounts for 99.86% of the mass in the solar system. …
Over one million Earth’s could fit inside the Sun. …
One day the Sun will consume the Earth. …
The energy created by the Sun’s core is nuclear fusion. …
The Sun is almost a perfect sphere. …
The Sun is travelling at 220 km per second.

What we know about the Sun?

The sun lies at the heart of the solar system where it is by far the largest object. It holds 99.8% of the solar system’s mass and is roughly 109 times the diameter of the Earth — about one million Earths could fit inside the sun.

What type of reactions take place in the interior of the Sun?

The Sun generates energy in its core via a type of nuclear reaction known as nuclear fusion. Basically the tremendous heat and pressure at the heart of the Sun causes the nuclei of several hydrogen atoms to fuse together to form helium atoms.

How do we know about the interior structure and activity inside the Sun quizlet?

The Sun’s surface vibrates from internal pressure waves reflecting off of the photosphere and passing through the solar interior. Since these waves penetrate deep inside the Sun an analysis of the vibrations these waves cause at the surface can reveal unique information about the solar interior.

What is the best reason astronomers have come up with to explain why sunspots?

What is the best reason astronomers have come up with to explain why sunspots are cooler and look darker? Sunspots are places where the strong magnetic fields in the Sun resist the upward motion of bubbling hot gases from underneath. … Coronal Mass Ejections from the Sun have many serious effects on or near the Earth.

What is it about the Sun’s corona that astronomers don’t understand?

What is it about the Sun’s corona that astronomers don’t understand? The corona is much hotter than layers of the Sun that are closer to the solar interior. … They are extremely hot but cooler than the surrounding areas of the Sun.

How do we know about the sun interior?

The sun’s surface is bright and opaque so it is impossible to look through it. Instead solar physicists study the sun’s interior the same way that geologists look deep into the Earth—via seismology.

How do astronomers know what the outer layer of the sun is made of?

How do astronomers know the composition of the outer layers of the Sun? We take an absorption line spectrum of the Sun. These absorption lines tell us what elements are present in the outer layers.

Who proved the sun is a star?

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

How do astronomers know how strong the magnetic field of the sun is?

Astronomers can measure magnetic fields on the sun using . Sunspots have extremely strong magnetic fields which are believed to inhibit the flow of gas. Consequently convection is reduced below the sunspot and the surface there is cooler.

How are astronomers able to explore the layers of the sun below the photosphere?

How are astronomers able to explore the layers of the sun below the photosphere? … By observing solar X rays and gamma rays with space telescopes. These shorter wavelengths are emitted from hotter regions below the photosphere.

What happens in the convection zone of the Sun?

In the convective zone the temperatures are cool enough—under 1 800 000 degrees Fahrenheit (1 000 000 degrees Kelvin)—that the atoms in the plasma there can absorb the photons coming outward from the Sun’s radiative zone. The plasma gets very hot and begins to rise upward out of the Sun.

What do astronomers study?

Astronomy is the study of everything in the universe beyond Earth’s atmosphere. That includes objects we can see with our naked eyes like the Sun the Moon the planets and the stars . It also includes objects we can only see with telescopes or other instruments like faraway galaxies and tiny particles.

How do scientists obtained their data and pieces of information about the sun?

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) was developed in Europe and put into orbit in 1996 to collect information. … By studying these waves scientists understand more about the sun’s interior and the cause of solar activity.

What satellites are in space to help astronomers study the sun?

Solar Spacecraft and Telescopes

Hinode (Solar-B)
STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory)
SDO — The Solar Dynamics Observatory.
SOHO — The SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory.
Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG)
The Wilcox Solar Observatory.

What does that statistic tell you about our sun?

The Sun is a rather commonplace celestial object.
…

Age	At least 4.5 billion years in present state.
Distance
Mean distance from Earth	1.5 X 10^8 km
Variation in distance through the year	+/- 1.5 percent
Diameter	1.39 X 10^6 km (or 109 times the diameter of the Earth and 9.75 times the diameter of Jupiter)

Does our Sun have a name?

Although it’s a star – and our local star at that – our sun doesn’t have a generally accepted and unique proper name in English. We English speakers always just call it the sun. You sometimes hear English-speakers use the name Sol for our sun. … Sol is the Roman equivalent of the Greek sun god Helios.

Can you live without sunlight?

Humans get our energy from the food we eat and all of that food is derived from the energy of the sun. … Submariners have gone without sunlight for periods exceeding 6-months using vitamin D supplements. It is unlikely though that an adult could die directly and exclusively from prolonged darkness.

Will the Sun ever burn out?

Eventually the fuel of the sun – hydrogen – will run out. When this happens the sun will begin to die. But don’t worry this should not happen for about 5 billion years. After the hydrogen runs out there will be a period of 2-3 billion years whereby the sun will go through the phases of star death.

Will the Sun explode?

Scientists have conducted a lot of researches and study to estimate that the Sun is not going to explode for another 5 to 7 billion years. When the Sun does cease to exist it will first expand in size and use up all the hydrogen present at its core and then eventually shrink down and become a dying star.

See also how many elements compose the majority of rock-forming minerals?

What is unique about the Sun?

The sun is completely gaseous. There is no solid surface. The sun is composed of 74 percent hydrogen 25 percent helium and 1 percent other gases. The sun is composed of several layers.

Which of the following criteria do astronomers use to classify an object as a planet?

It says a planet must do three things: It must orbit a star (in our cosmic neighborhood the Sun). It must be big enough to have enough gravity to force it into a spherical shape. It must be big enough that its gravity cleared away any other objects of a similar size near its orbit around the Sun.

How do we test our computer models for the interior of the Sun?

How do we test our computer models for the interior of the Sun? Comparing model predictions to how the Sun actually vibrates. … Energy moves through the deepest layers of the sun- the core and the radiation zone in the form of bouncing photons.

How do we know that nuclear reactions are still taking place in the Sun?

Unlike light neutrinos can pass through the Sun untouched (in fact they can pass through pretty much anything untouched). … Therefore observations of neutrinos from the direction of the Sun show that the Sun is undergoing nuclear fusion reactions right up until the present day.

How do we know what is going on in the center of the Sun so well if we Cannot see it or send spacecraft to it?

Process of Science: How do we know what is going on in the center of the Sun so well if we cannot see it or send spacecraft to it? … We also use observations of vibrations on the Sun to learn about its interior structure in much the same way we use seismic testing on Earth.

What was wrong with the theory that the Sun burned from a source of fuel inside?

The sun does not run out of oxygen for the simple fact that it does not use oxygen to burn. The burning of the sun is not chemical combustion. It is nuclear fusion.

Is the Sun hotter inside or outside?

The photosphere – the visible surface of the Sun – has a temperature of about 6000 degrees C. However the temperature increases very steeply from 6000 degrees to a few million degrees in the corona in the region 500 kilometers above the photosphere. Thus the Sun is hotter on the inside than it is on the outside.

Why do astronomers today think that we have an asteroid belt and not a planet between Mars and Jupiter quizlet?

Although there are many asteroids they are widely spaced (there is lots of space between them). Why do astronomers today think that we have an asteroid belt and not a planet between Mars and Jupiter? Jupiter’s gravity prevented material in that zone from getting together. Typical asteroids are irregularly shaped.