Guide to the Sun

The author describes our present understanding of the sun's surface and atmosphere, its interior, and its interaction with the rest of the solar system, in particular with the earth.

The Sun has been an object of scientific interest since the time of the ancient Greeks. The vast amounts of observational data acquired in recent years have led to a greatly improved knowledge of the physics of the Sun. With a minimum of technicalities, this book gives an account of what we now know about the Sun's interior, its surface and atmosphere, its relation to the solar system including the earth, and its relation to other stars. The way that solar power is being converted to useful forms of energy is explained. The book is aimed at anyone with a broad science background interested in learning about the latest developments in solar studies, from those at high-school level to the non-specialist professional.

1. History of solar observation: from sun worship to the space age; 2. Solar interior; 3. The solar photosphere; 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; Epilogue; Glossary; Appendices: physical and astronomical constants finding the heliographic co-ordinates of a sunspot; Bibliography.

This book is an account of the latest developments in studies of our nearest star. What makes the Sun shine? What are solar flares? How is solar energy used for everyday purposes? Answers to these and other related questions are given in this book.

Professor Kenneth Phillips is Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, and specialises in solar physics and X-ray and ultraviolet spectroscopy. He is co-author of Ultraviolet and X-ray Spectroscopy of the Solar Atmosphere (2008) and has authored over 300 research papers. In 2010, he was awarded the Copernicus Medal of the Polish Academy of Sciences and in 2009, the Gold Medal of the University of Wroclaw, Poland, for collaborative projects with the solar group there. From 2002 to 2005, he held a National Research Council Senior Research Associateship at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and he worked for twenty-five years in the Space Science Department of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire. He has held honorary or visiting professorships at Queen's University, Belfast and University College London.