Exam 8: The Sun

Figure 8-1b Which layer of the Sun's atmosphere is represented in the accompanying visual-wavelength image?

Stars, like our Sun, generate their energy by way of nuclear _______________.

Which equation represents the overall nuclear fusion process of the Sun?

The chromosphere is roughly _______________ times fainter than the photosphere.

What is released from the proton-proton chain and is immediately absorbed by the surrounding gas, thereby heating it?

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

What are the dark regions that give the Sun's photosphere a mottled appearance?

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

Nuclear fusion in the Sun is tremendously powerful.

What is the safest way to view the Sun and its sunspots?

When the Sun generates its own energy, it uses weak forces to bind together atomic nuclei.

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

Consider the complete magnetic cycle of sunspot activity on the Sun. Approximately how many years is this cycle?

When two arches in a magnetic field encounter each other, ____ can cause powerful eruptions called ____.

Historical records show that there were very few sunspots from about 1645 to 1715, a phenomenon known as the _______________.

Spicules can trigger communications blackouts and auroras on Earth.

The _______________ of the solar disk is dimmer than the center, which is caused by the absorption of light in the photosphere.

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

The number of _______________ visible on the Sun varies in a cycle with a period of 11 years.

Granulation is caused by convection currents just below the photosphere.