Discussion: Book Review: Sun Observer's Guide

[Fraser]

SUMMARY: The Sun Observer's Guide by Pam Spence is a practical reference for how and why to view our nearest star. Though the uninitiated consider our sun to be a steady source of light and heat, nothing could be further from the truth. Using the proper equipment with appropriate safeguards, viewers can watch a seething tempest. Changes can occur in a few short minutes or, with appropriate record keeping, changes can be seen to vary over decades. This book can start you making worthwhile observations.

What do you think about this story? Post your comments below.

[om@umr.edu]

Thanks, Fraser, for bringing attention to this new book.

I am pleased there is renewed interest in the Sun.

Although often thought of as "a steady source of light and heat", the object that controls almost all activity on Earth is in fact very unsteady, violent, and poorly understood.

As noted in the first two sentences of our recent paper on "Superfluidity in the Solar Interior: Implications for Solar Eruptions and Climate":

1. "Efforts to understand unusual weather or abrupt changes in climate have been plagued by deficiencies of the standard solar model (SSM)".

2. "While it assumes that our primary source of energy began as a homogeneous ball of hydrogen (H) with a well-behaved H-fusion reactor at its core, observations instead reveal a very heterogeneous, dynamic Sun."

http://web.umr.edu/~om/abstracts2003/jfe-s...perfluidity.pdf

The Sun certainly merits our attention.

One solar sneeze, and we're all toast!

With kind regards,

Oliver
http://www.umr.edu/~om