Sun, Earth and Sky - Softcover

Kenneth R. Lang

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3540628088 ISBN 13: 9783540628088

Publisher: Springer, 2001

Synopsis

This lavishly illustrated book introduces the sun, its physics, and its impact on life here on Earth. Using the most recent results based on radio telescope and satellite observations, the author describes the sun's awesome nuclear energy processes, its mysterious neutrino flux, its seismic activity, its magnetic fields and sunspots, its corona, solar flares and prominences, the solar wind, and the hugely important and multifaceted role of sunlight in both sustaining and endangering life on Planet Earth. Written in a light and friendly style, this is a delightful book for all who wish to understand the latest discoveries about the sun. It would make an ideal gift for all students of astronomy and related disciplines as well as for amateur astronomers.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This Second Edition of Sun, Earth and Sky updates the popular text by providing comprehensive accounts of the most recent discoveries made by five modern solar spacecraft during the past decade. Their instruments have used sound waves to peer deep into the Sun’s inner regions and measure the temperature of its central nuclear reactor, and extended our gaze far from the visible Sun to record energetic outbursts that threaten Earth. Breakthrough observations with the underground Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are also included, which explain the new physics of ghostly neutrinos and solve the problematic mismatch between the predicted and observed amounts of solar neutrinos. This new edition of Sun, Earth and Sky also describes our recent understanding of how the Sun’s outer atmosphere is heated to a million degrees, and just where the Sun’s continuous winds come from. As humans we are more intimately linked with our life-sustaining Sun than with any other astronomical object, and the new edition therefore provides modern interpretations of ozone depletion and global warming that are related to both the Sun and to human activities. Written in a light and friendly style, this lavishly illustrated book introduces the Sun and its physics, and describes all aspects of the Sun’s interaction with us on Earth.

About the Author

Professor Lang has written several books about the Sun, as well as widely used reference works in astronomy and astrophysics. He has carried out radio observations of the active Sun with the Very Large Array in support of the SOHO spacecraft, teaches an extremely popular introductory course about the Sun to Tufts University students with non-scientific majors, and has served for two years as Visiting Senior Scientist in Solar Physics at NASA Headquarters.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 3540628088
• ISBN 13: 9783540628088
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 282