The Sun.THE SUN STEELE HILL AND MICHAEL CARLOWICZ The sun is familiar and, astronomically speaking, rather unremarkable as stars go. Nevertheless, the authors offer dozens of dramatic, high-resolution pictures in this small-format book. Hill, an expert in solar imaging, and science writer Carlowicz provide images from satellites such as Skylab and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) is a spacecraft that was launched on an Atlas IIAS launch vehicle on 2 December 1995 to study the Sun, and began normal operations in May 1996. . These provide unusual views of the sun, highlighting phenomena such as solar flares solar flare Sudden intense brightening of a small part of the Sun's surface, often near a sunspot group. Flares develop in a few minutes and may last several hours, releasing intense X rays and streams of energetic particles. , sunspots sunspots, dark, usually irregularly shaped spots on the sun's surface that are actually solar magnetic storms. The Chinese recorded dark features on the sun seen with the naked eye in 28 B.C. , and coronal mass ejections coronal mass ejection n. A large eruption of plasma from the sun's corona that extends 8,000,000 kilometers (5,000,000 miles) into space. coronal mass ejection . Images depicting how sunlight interacts with forests, fields, and clouds reveal the sun's beauty, while others present rare views of full and partial eclipses and auroras. Abrams, 2006, 240 p., color images, hardcover, $19.95. |
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