ASTR 412 T (S) Solar Physics

We study all aspects of the Sun, our nearest star. We discuss the interior, including the neutrino experiment and helioseismology, the photosphere, the chromosphere, the corona, and the solar wind. We discuss the Sun as an example of stars in general. We discuss both theoretical aspects and observational techniques, including work at recent total solar eclipses. We discuss results from current spacecraft, including the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and Hinode (Sunrise), as well as additional Total Solar Irradiance measurements from ACRIMSAT and SORCE. We also discuss our data analysis of recent transits of Mercury across the face of the Sun and the 2004 and 2012 transits of Venus across the face of the Sun as observed from Earth, the first such transits of Venus since 1882, as well as our work in observing transits of Venus from Jupiter with the Hubble Space Telescope and from Saturn with Cassini.

www.williams.edu/Astronomy/Course-Pages/412/

Texts:

Leon Golub and Jay M. Pasachoff, Nearest Star: The Exciting Science of Our Sun, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2014); http://www. williams.edu/astronomy/neareststar; to be available from the publisher in mid-February 2014

Leon Golub and Jay M. Pasachoff, The Solar Corona, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2010); http://www.williams.edu/astronomy/corona

Jay M. Pasachoff, The Sun (Complete Idiot's Guides series, Alpha Books, 2003); www.williams.edu/astronomy/sun [to be distributed in class]

Peter V. Foukal, Solar Astrophysics, 3rd ed. (Wiley, 2013), with problems to be assigned

Additional readings: (* indicates that it is on the Schow reserve shelf)

Pasachoff, Jay M., 2010, "Resource Letter SP-1 on Solar Physics," American Journal of Physics, 78, September, 890-901.

*Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Sun, by Kenneth Lang (Cambridge U. Press, 2001), QB521 .L24 2001 [LE]

*Sun, Earth, and Sky, by Kenneth Lang (Springer-Verlag, 2nd ed., 2006). [L]

*The Sun from Space, by Kenneth Lang (Springer, 2000) QB521 .L25 2000

*Solar Interior and Atmosphere, ed. by A. Cox, W. Livingston, and M. S. Matthews (U. Arizona Press, 1991) [CLW on reading list] QB539 I5 S65

*Astronomy: From the Earth to the Universe, 6th ed. (Brooks/Cole, 2002) [ETU6 on reading list]

The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millennium, by Jay M. Pasachoff and Alex Filippenko, 4th ed. (Cambridge U. Press, 2014) [Cosmos on reading list]

*The Sun, Our Star by R. W. Noyes (Harvard University Press, 1982) QB521.N68

*Total Eclipses of the Sun by Jack B. Zirker (Princeton University Press, 1995) QB121.C69

*Journey to the Center of the Sun by Jack B. Zirker (Princeton University Press, 2002) QB521 .Z58

*Sunquakes: Probing the Interior of the Sun by Jack B. Zirker (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003) QB539.I5 Z57 2003

*Guide to the Sun by Kenneth J. H. Phillips (Cambridge, 1992, 1995) [P] QB521 .P45

*The Enigma of Sunspots: A story of discovery and scientific revolution, by Judit Brody (Floris Books, 2002) QB525.B76 2002

Physics of the Solar Corona: An Introduction, by Markus Ashwanden (Springer, 2004)

*Fundamentals of Solar Astronomy, by Arvind Bhatnagar and Williams Livingston (World Scientific, 2005)

*Lectures on solar physics, by H. M. Antia, A. Bhatnagar, P. Ulmschneider, eds. (Springer, 2003) QB520.L43 2003

*The Story of Helium and the Birth of Astrophysics, by Biman Nath (Springer, 2012)

Web site: http://web.williams.edu/Astronomy/Course-Pages/412/index.html and glow.williams.edu

Also, through http://thecosmos4, go to Chapter Updates button and then to Chapter 10 for updates.

http://www.williams.edu/astronomy/eclipse has images and material from my long set of solar eclipse expeditions

http://www.eclipses.info (Working Group on Eclipses of the International Astronomical Union)

Web links

http://www.williams.edu/astronomy/jay/solarlinks has inks to GONG, SOHO, Big Bear Solar Observatory, National Solar Observatories, Space Environment Lab., Marshall Space Flight Center (sunspot cycle), etc.

Transits of Venus and Mercury

See http://www.transitofvenus.info

Office Hours: Monday and Tuesday from 11:15 to 12:15, or by appointment

TPL 115, 597 2105, jay.m.pasachoff@williams.edu

Movies/Videos

times to be arranged

Solar Observing

times to be arranged

Golub/Pasachoff chapters, Nearest Star [GP_nearest]

1. The Sun

2. The Once and Future Sun

3. What We See: The Solar Disk

4. What We Don't See

5. Eclipses

6. Space Missions

7. Between Fire and Ice

8. Space Weather

Golub/Pasachoff chapters, The Solar Corona [GP_corona]

1. Introduction

2. Brief history of coronal studies

3. The coronal spectrum

4. The solar cycle

5. Ground-based observations

6. Observations from space: I. The first 30 years

7. Activity of the inner corona

8. Observations from space: II. Recent missions

9. Solar flares & the corona

10. Solar-terrestrial physics

Pasachoff chapters, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Sun [CIG_sun]

Part 1: What the Sun Looks Like

1 The Sun Shines On Us

2 The Active Sun

3 Seeing the Invisible

4 The Sun Goes Up; the Sun Goes Down

5 Our Sun: Looking Good

Part 2: The Sun Through Time

6 The Sun as a Star

7 The Sun and Civilization

8 The Birth of the Sun

9 The Sun at the Center

10 The Death of the Sun

Part 3: Eclipses of the Sun

11 Who Stole the Sun?

12 Saros and Cycles

13 Helium: Only on the Sun

14 To the Ends of the Earth

15 To Be in the Moon's Shadow

16 Venus Tries to Cover Immodestly

Part 4: The Sun from Mountaintops

17 High Above the Clouds

18 Sunspot, New Mexico, and the House of the Sun

19 Canaries and the Big Dog

20 Ringing Like a Bell

Part 5: The Sun from Space

21 Above the Air Is Better

22 Sunbeam

23 Yo Ho, SOHO

24 Tracing Out the Loops

25 Plunging into the Sun

Part 6: The Sun-Earth Connection

26 Constancy, Thy Name Isn't the Sun

27 Greenhouses of Salt

28 The Forecast Today Is Flares

Foukal chapters:

1. Development of the Ideas and Instruments of Modern Solar Research

2. Radiative Transfer in the Sun's Atmosphere

3. Solar Spectroscopy

4. Dynamics of Solar Plasmas

5. The Photosphere

6. The Sun's Internal Structure and Energy Generation

7. Rotation, Convection, and Oscillations in the Sun

8. Observations of Photospheric Activity and Magnetism

9. The Chromosphere and Corona

10. Prominences and Flares

11. Dynamics of the Solar Magnetic Field

12. The Solar Wind and Heliosphere

13. The Sun, Our Variable Star

Phillips Guide chapters:

1. The history of solar observation: from sun worship to the space age

2. The solar interior

3. The solar photosophere

4. The solar chromosphere

5. The solar corona

6. The active sun

7. The sun and the solar system

8. The sun and other stars

9. Solar energy

10. Observing the sun

Zirker Journey chapters:

1. Getting Started

2. The Secret Heart of the Sun

3. The Deep Interior

4. Order and Chaos: the Convection Zone

5. Looking Inside from the Outside

6. The Hot Atmosphere

7. The Magnetic Atmosphere

8. The Middle Kingdom: the Chromosphere and Transition Zone

9. Active Regions

10. Explosions on the Sun

11. The Corona and the Wind

12. "Like a Tea Tray in the Sky"

13. The Solar Cycle

14. The Sun and Climate

Lang Sun, Earth, Sky chapters:

1. Introduction

2. Energizing the Sun

3. Ghostlike neutrinos

4. Taking the pulse of the Sun

5. A magnetic star

6. An unseen world of perpetual change (corona and solar wind)

7. The violent sun

8. Energizing space

9. Transforming the Earth's life-sustaining atmosphere

10. Fire and ice

Lang Cambridge Encyclopedia chapters

1. The Sun's domain

2. The Sun as a star

3. What makes the Sun shine?

4. Inside the Sun

5. The magnetic solar atmosphere

6. The explosive Sun

7. The Sun's winds

8. The Sun-Earth connection

9. Observing the Sun