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Journey from the Center of the Sun
Jack Zirker takes us on an imaginary voyage from the center of the sun to its surface, showing us how sunlight is made and finally following the sun's energy to the far reaches of the solar system. Along the way, he introduces the basic processes at work in our nearest star and the exciting answers solar scientists are finding to problems that have long perplexed astronomers.
Journey from the Center of the Sun describes how theory and practice are coming together to provide a new understanding of this old star. At this moment, solar physicists are collecting the best observations ever obtained about the sun's interior and dynamic atmosphere, while a new breed of theorists is interpreting these data using computer simulations. Zirker reports on cutting-edge advances and looks at the tough questions solar physicists are beginning to crack. How can we account for the solar wind that causes the sun to lose mass at an astonishing rate? Where have all the neutrinos gone? How does the sun generate magnetic sunspots, and why does it have a sunspot cycle? What causes a solar flare to explode? How does the sun affect the earth's climate? What is a sunquake?
For the armchair astronomer or the student of astrophysics, this book provides an unusually complete picture of solar physics today.
Journey from the Center of the Sun describes how theory and practice are coming together to provide a new understanding of this old star. At this moment, solar physicists are collecting the best observations ever obtained about the sun's interior and dynamic atmosphere, while a new breed of theorists is interpreting these data using computer simulations. Zirker reports on cutting-edge advances and looks at the tough questions solar physicists are beginning to crack. How can we account for the solar wind that causes the sun to lose mass at an astonishing rate? Where have all the neutrinos gone? How does the sun generate magnetic sunspots, and why does it have a sunspot cycle? What causes a solar flare to explode? How does the sun affect the earth's climate? What is a sunquake?
For the armchair astronomer or the student of astrophysics, this book provides an unusually complete picture of solar physics today.
320 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 30, 2016
Excellent book for anyone interested in the sun and has a bachelor's in physics. The writing is at just the right level and the appendices provide the gritty details like chemical equations for the p-p and CNO cycles. Zirker has a gift for explaining complicated physics with simple diagrams and analogies. The book skips derivations of fundamental physics like Maxwell's equations (as it should) and gets straight to the point. For example, he just shows the plot of a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution and explains what it is in words rather than going through lines and lines of equations to derive it.
This is the first book I read on solar physics to get me up to speed as a fresh intern at Stanford almost 10 years ago, and it is the best reference for a broad understanding of the sun as I write my PhD dissertation now. In both cases, I have found it invaluable.
This is the first book I read on solar physics to get me up to speed as a fresh intern at Stanford almost 10 years ago, and it is the best reference for a broad understanding of the sun as I write my PhD dissertation now. In both cases, I have found it invaluable.
June 2, 2007
A decent intro to the Sun. A little or a lot of physics, depending on who is reading it - but it probably won't overwhelm anyone.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews