Lecture 23 – The Sun
Summary / Checklist of the Main Concepts to Understand and Remember

The Sun: General Properties  
red bullet Some numbers: Size of the Sun in Earth radii and angular size from Earth; Earth-Sun distance (in km, AU and light travel time).  
• Solar rotation: How fast does the Sun rotate? How do we know? Does the whole surface rotate at the same rate?  
red bullet What is the Sun? How do we know?  
red bullet Solar interior: What is the core, and how hot is it? What is the radiation zone? What is the convection zone?  
red bullet Energy production: How does the Sun produce energy? What is used, and what new nuclei are produced as a result?  
red bullet Solar surface: What is the photosphere, and how hot is it? (How do we know?) What is the chromosphere? What is the corona?  
The Sun: Activity and Effects on Earth  
• Surface features: What are granules, and why is the photosphere covered in them?  
• Signs of solar activity: What are sunspots? What are flares? What are prominences? What are coronal mass ejections?  
• How does the level of solar activity change in time, and why?  
• What happens in space around the Sun during periods of intense solar activity?  
• What effects can be felt on Earth during periods of solar activity?  
The Solar Environment  
• Beyond the orbit of Neptune and the Kuiper Belt, what is the first sign of the beginning of interstellar space?  
red bullet What is the Oort Cloud? How do we know it is there?  
red bullet Compared to the distance from the Earth to the Sun, how far is the next nearest star?  

Topics from the lecture page and textbook not listed above [or between square brackets] were not covered in class;
Underlined words indicate that I will expect students to remember a number or a name related to that topic.

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