In which I geek out about astronomy
A while ago, a few people on my f-list gave me an open invitation to geek out about astronomy (the fools). Today I feel like doing so. Astronomy is pretty much all about stars. Everything either is a star, has the potential to become a star, used to be a star, orbits a star, is made up of more than one star or gets in the way when we try to look at stars. So you’d think people would be appreciative of the chance to study an ordinary, average star, close up, doing what stars do for the greater part of their lives. In addition to the whole supporting almost all life on Earth thing that it does. But no, we barely even spare it a second thought except to complain, with woeful scientific inaccuracy, that it doesn’t shine enough on Bank Holidays. Unappreciative lot, aren’t we?
Our average little yellow Sun is way more interesting than most people realise. There’s so much going on inside and around it that we still don’t fully understand it all. It’s shaped our understanding of science through things we’ve discovered about it. It’s also given us some really pretty pictures. Here’s a selection of web resources all about the Sun, how it got here, what it’s doing now, what it’ll do in the future and how all of that affects us.
Solar Observatories
SOHO
SOHO is a joint ESA/NASA project. It is a satellite observatory that studies seismic activity and the Sun’s magnetic cycle. Studying different wavelengths of light emitted by the Sun enables it to get detailed pictures of the outer layers of the Sun and show magnetic activity occurring in them. Observing seismic activity gives information about the inside of the Sun.
The site has some fantastic pictures, really good explanations and is fairly easy to follow. The basic introduction page about the Sun is here.
Yohkoh
Yohkoh is a solar observatory studying the Sun in x-ray and gamma ray wavelengths. These tell us about the outer layers of the Sun, and show some kinds of solar activity.
General information about the Sun
Greenwich Observatory Sun page
Life cycle of stars
NASA page
Astronomy for Kids site
Astronomy Notes - A more in-depth exploration of the life cycle of stars (University level), but the index allows you to skip bits.
Nothing to do with the Sun, but if you've got a particular fascination with black holes, which a fair few people do, you really need to read Collapsing Universe by Isaac Asimov (ISBN 0091317703). Best explanation ever.
Aurorae
Paintings in the Sky - Really good explanation of what causes aurorae, with diagrams, and some information about space weather.
Enjoy.
AJ
Our average little yellow Sun is way more interesting than most people realise. There’s so much going on inside and around it that we still don’t fully understand it all. It’s shaped our understanding of science through things we’ve discovered about it. It’s also given us some really pretty pictures. Here’s a selection of web resources all about the Sun, how it got here, what it’s doing now, what it’ll do in the future and how all of that affects us.
Solar Observatories
SOHO
SOHO is a joint ESA/NASA project. It is a satellite observatory that studies seismic activity and the Sun’s magnetic cycle. Studying different wavelengths of light emitted by the Sun enables it to get detailed pictures of the outer layers of the Sun and show magnetic activity occurring in them. Observing seismic activity gives information about the inside of the Sun.
The site has some fantastic pictures, really good explanations and is fairly easy to follow. The basic introduction page about the Sun is here.
Yohkoh
Yohkoh is a solar observatory studying the Sun in x-ray and gamma ray wavelengths. These tell us about the outer layers of the Sun, and show some kinds of solar activity.
General information about the Sun
Greenwich Observatory Sun page
Life cycle of stars
NASA page
Astronomy for Kids site
Astronomy Notes - A more in-depth exploration of the life cycle of stars (University level), but the index allows you to skip bits.
Nothing to do with the Sun, but if you've got a particular fascination with black holes, which a fair few people do, you really need to read Collapsing Universe by Isaac Asimov (ISBN 0091317703). Best explanation ever.
Aurorae
Paintings in the Sky - Really good explanation of what causes aurorae, with diagrams, and some information about space weather.
Enjoy.
AJ