Table of Contents

1. History of solar observation: from sun worship to the space age; 2. Solar interior; 3. The solar photosphere; 4. The solar chromosphere; 5. The solar corona; 6. The active Sun; 7. The Sun and the solar system; 8. The Sun and other stars; 9. Solar energy; 10. Observing the Sun; Epilogue; Glossary; Appendices: physical and astronomical constants finding the heliographic co-ordinates of a sunspot; Bibliography.

Promotional Information

This book is an account of the latest developments in studies of our nearest star.

About the Author

Professor Kenneth Phillips is Research Fellow at Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, and specialises in solar physics and X-ray and ultraviolet spectroscopy. He is the author of Guide to the Sun (Cambridge University Press 1992, paperback edition 1995) and nearly 250 research papers. Most recently he held a National Research Council Senior Research Associateship at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and he has worked for 25 years at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire. He is Honorary Professor at Queen's University, Belfast. His next book Ultraviolet and X-ray Spectroscopy of the Solar Atmosphere, with Uri Feldman and Enrico Landi, will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2008.

Reviews

'... an excellent general account ...' The Times Higher Education Supplement 'This is a first class introduction.' New Scientist '... it would not be amiss on the bookshelves of anyone with a professional or an amateur interest in the physical sciences.' Observatory '... cor what a good one.' Astronomy Now 'The subject matter is fascinating ...'. Physics World