Exam 8: The Sun

Explain the Babcock model and why the solar cycle should really be considered as a 22-year cycle instead of 11-year cycle.

The _______________ predicts that pairs of sunspots should occur where magnetic tubes burst through the Sun's surface.

The Sun is a ball of hot gas held together by its own gravity.

The pink color of the chromosphere is produced by the combined light of three emission lines of hydrogen: ____.

What causes auroras and where are they most prominent on Earth?

Figure 8-1 What process on the Sun's photosphere does this figure (Figure 8-1) represent?

The _______________ is a thin layer of gas from which Earth receives most of the Sun's light.

How many nuclear reactions occur in a proton-proton chain?

Astronomers can measure the magnetic fields of sunspots using the ____, which splits spectral lines into multiple components.

Granules on the Sun's photosphere can be several thousand kilometers across.

The upper chromosphere is hot enough to emit X-rays.

Spicules can trigger communications blackouts and auroras on Earth.

During nuclear fusion, four hydrogen nuclei fuse into how many helium?

Nuclear fusion within the Sun proceeds step-by-step in a series of reactions called the neutron-neutron chain.

What methodology do astronomers use to map the inside of the Sun?

Sunspots are parts of active solar regions dominated by magnetic fields that encompass all layers of the Sun's atmosphere.

What occurs on the surface of the Sun during a solar cycle minimum?

Why was the Davis experiment only able to detect one-third of the neutrinos originally predicted?

The temperature of the Sun is determined by measuring the __________ of sunlight.