The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Sun
by Jay M. Pasachoff
The whole book is available online at
.gif){kind=logo}
It isn't that the author thinks you're an idiot if you don't know much about the Sun. Quite the contrary. Pasachoff (a professor of astronomy at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts) loves to talk about the Sun, and it shows. He gently takes you by the hand and tells you everything you want to know about our star, and more. The book is divided into six sections telling us what the Sun looks like, how it has evolved, what eclipses are and what we learn by observing them, how we study the Sun, and how the Sun and Earth are linked.
Before you realize you're delving into solar physics, you've learned about nuclear physics in the core of the Sun, how solar neutrinos were first detected, how a spectrum of sunlight tells what elements can be found in the solar atmosphere, where the Sun stands in the hierarchy of stars, and - Pasachoff's favorite topic - the mechanics of total solar eclipses.
Just about the time you get around to wondering, "How do we know all this stuff?" the book launches into a world-spanning tour of solar observatories. Then Pasachoff takes the reader on a leap into space, first aboard sounding rockets and then highlighting the four decades of orbiting telescopes. The comprehensive views we have of the Sun, its structures, and its effects on the rest of the solar system (through radiation, the solar wind, flares, and other outbursts) are largely due to the years-long efforts of physicists using these observatories.
My favorite section is the last one, titled "The Sun-Earth Connection." In its three chapters - "Constancy, Thy Name Isn't the Sun," "Greenhouses of Salt," and "The Forecast Today Is Flares" - Pasachoff brings everything we've learned in the previous chapters into sharp focus. He relates it all to our existence here on Earth, as beings within range of a living, "breathing" star.
When the Sun burps out a flare, the Earth "sees" the consequences very quickly thereafter, and scientists collect immense amounts of data. As our star moves through a sunspot cycle, we can observe the effects. Because of changes occurring in our own atmosphere, we can map the effects of the Sun across the planet, especially in places like Punta Arenas, Chile, where solar ultraviolet radiation streaming through the ozone hole poses a clear and present danger each spring. These cases point out that the relationship between the Sun and the Earth is complex and ever changing, and that our role is not always a passive one.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It's written in clear, approachable language, giving the casual reader who doesn't mind learning a little bit of physics along the way a good feel for the complex topics involved in understanding the solar system's main energy source. Pasachoff begins each chapter with bullet points - sort of an executive summary of what he will discuss later. After delving into the topics, he concludes each chapter with another summary. Occasionally this approach leads to excessive repetition. although a keener editorial eye could have prevailed over some particularly wordy sections, overall Pasachoff does a good job explaining the complexities of solar physics to the layperson.
The structure of each chapter enhances the book's overall approachability. Boxes give the reader bite-size nuggets of "Sun Fun Facts," "Solar Scribblings," and others. There are also many illustrations and photographs (but just a few in color).
Pasachoff often uses references from the history and popular culture to help the reader understand a point. In Chapter 28 he talks about the dangers posed to astronauts traveling through space and invokes images from movies to introduce the concept of space weather, the disturbances imparted in the interplanetary medium by flares and other outbursts from the Sun.
"Buck Rogers, Captain Video, and other early fictional astronauts moved easily around the solar system. But the solar system, outside the Earth's protective envelope, is a rough place. High-energy particles of light, including x-rays and gamma rays, and fast-moving particles of matter smack into whatever is up there. To function in space, we must be alert to space weather."
This kind of colorful writing livens up what could be a dreadfully dull topic at the hands of a less imaginative writer. Those reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Sun will come away saying, "Well, there is more to know about the Sun," and feel good about how they learned it.Table of Contents
Part 1: What the Sun Looks Like
1 The Sun Shines On Us
2 The Active Sun
3 Seeing the Invisible
4 The Sun Goes Up; the Sun Goes Down
5 Our Sun: Looking Good
Part 2: The Sun Through Time
6 The Sun as a Star
7 The Sun and Civilization
8 The Birth of the Sun
9 The Sun at the Center
10 The Death of the Sun
Part 3: Eclipses of the Sun
11 Who Stole the Sun?
12 Saros and Cycles
13 Helium: Only on the Sun
14 To the Ends of the Earth
15 To Be in the Moon's Shadow
16 Venus Tries to Cover Immodestly
Part 4: The Sun from Mountaintops
17 High Above the Clouds
18 Sunspot, New Mexico, and the House of the Sun
19 Canaries and the Big Dog
20 Ringing Like a Bell
Part 5: The Sun from Space
21 Above the Air Is Better
22 Sunbeam
23 Yo Ho, SOHO
24 Tracing Out the Loops
25 Plunging into the Sun
Part 6: The Sun-Earth Connection
26 Constancy, Thy Name Isn't the Sun
27 Greenhouses of Salt
28 The Forecast Today Is Flares
Appendixes
A Glossary
B Solar Observatories
C Astronomy Clubs and Solar Interest Groups
D A Word on Temperature
E Selected Readings
Links:
Solar Links