Across
- 3. a large, bright, gaseous feature that appears above the surface of the Sun and extends into the corona
- 4. a period during the seventeenth century when the number of sunspots seen throughout the solar cycle was unusually low
- 5. study of pulsations or oscillations of the Sun in order to determine the characteristics of the solar interior
- 8. particle with the same mass as an electron, but positively charged
- 12. balance between the weights of various layers, as in a star or Earth’s atmosphere, and the pressures that support them
- 14. a solar flare in which immense quantities of coronal material—mainly protons and electrons—is ejected at high speeds (500–1000 kilometers per second) into interplanetary space
- 17. a flow of hot, charged particles leaving the Sun
- 18. series of thermonuclear reactions by which nuclei of hydrogen are built up into nuclei of helium
- 20. a sudden and temporary outburst of electromagnetic radiation from an extended region of the Sun’s surface
- 23. the rice-grain-like structure of the solar photosphere; granulation is produced by upwelling currents of gas that are slightly hotter, and therefore brighter, than the surrounding regions, which are flowing downward into the Sun
- 24. large, dark features seen on the surface of the Sun caused by increased magnetic activity
- 25. fundamental particle that has no charge and a mass that is tiny relative to an electron; it rarely interacts with ordinary matter and comes in three different types
- 26. light radiated by atoms and ions in the ionosphere excited by charged particles from the Sun, mostly seen in the magnetic polar regions
- 27. the region of the solar (or stellar) atmosphere from which continuous radiation escapes into space
Down
- 1. a region in the Sun’s outer atmosphere that appears darker because there is less hot gas there
- 2. the phenomenon that occurs when different parts of a rotating object rotate at different rates at different latitudes
- 6. the semiregular 11-year period with which the frequency of sunspots fluctuates
- 7. movement caused within a gas or liquid by the tendency of hotter, and therefore less dense material, to rise and colder, denser material to sink under the influence of gravity, which consequently results in transfer of heat
- 9. the region in the Sun’s atmosphere where the temperature rises very rapidly from the relatively low temperatures that characterize the chromosphere to the high temperatures of the corona
- 10. an area on the Sun where magnetic fields are concentrated; sunspots, prominences, flares, and CMEs all tend to occur in active regions
- 11. building up of heavier atomic nuclei from lighter ones
- 13. process by which heat is directly transmitted through a substance when there is a difference of temperature between adjoining regions caused by atomic or molecular collisions
- 15. the outer (hot) atmosphere of the Sun
- 16. the part of the solar atmosphere that lies immediately above the photospheric layers
- 18. a bright region of the solar surface observed in the light of some spectral line
- 19. emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or photons also the transmitted energy itself
- 21. a hot ionized gas
- 22. breaking up of heavier atomic nuclei into lighter ones