A golden age for solar physics

NOV 01, 1982

New space probes—and a possible journey to the Sun—will maintain the fast pace of major advances in our understanding of the Sun’s interior, coronae, winds, magnetic explosions and cycles of activity.

DOI: 10.1063/1.2914849

Arthur B. C. Walker

The Sun occupies a unique position in astrophysics, because it is the only star we can examine in sufficient detail to learn about stellar phenomena at the level of the basic underlying atomic physics, nuclear physics, plasma physics and magnetohydrodynamics. Ongoing solar research affects a large number of models and theories of stellar phenomena. These include the fundamental theory of the generation of thermonuclear energy in stars, theories of energy transport in stellar envelopes, models of stellar structure and evolution, theories of stellar rotation and cycles of activity, models of stellar winds and coronae, and theories of stellar magnetism and the explosive release of stored magnetic energy, which accelerates particles to energies of billions of electron volts per nucleon.

References

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More about the Authors

Arthur B. C. Walker. Stanford University.