Chapter 6 Lesson 2: What is a Star?

What are the eruptions that occurs on the Sun?

Solar flare and Prominences

The innermost layer is called the

photosphere; it gives off light energy

The Stars appear to move across the sky but

the earth is moving instead; that's why the stars appear to move from east to west across the sky

Constellation

A group of stars that forms a pattern

Prominences

A ribbon of glowing gases that leaps out of the chromosphere into the corona. May appear and then disappear in a few days or months.

Polaris

It is part of the Little Dipper, which is right above the North Pole. It is 2,500 times brighter than the Sun. Early explorers used Polaris as a guide to direct them in their travels.

What is the size of the Sun?

Medium-sized star

The number of sunspots decreases and increases every

11 years

What is the temperature of the inner layer of the Sun?

15,000,000°C

What is the temperature of the outer part of the Sun?

5,500°C

Solar Flare

An explosive eruption of waves and particles into space. Causes a bright spot in the chromosphere that may last for minutes or hours. It can disrupt radio/satellite communication on Earth.

Sunspots

Dark spots moving on the face of the Sun. They're dark because there are less heat in that area. They are part of the photosphere. Around the same size as the earth or even larger

How do scientists calculate the Sun's mass?

From the speeds of the planets and the shapes of their orbits around the Sun

Stars

Gigantic balls of very hot gases that give off radiation

Supergiants

Stars that are 300 times as large as the Sun

Giants

Stars that are 8-100 times as large as the Sun

What is the largest thing in our Solar System?

Sun

What is the Sun's mass?

Two million, trillion, trillion, kilograms (two followed by 30 zeros; 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000)

The second layer of the sun is the

chromosphere

The outer most layer is called the

corona