The Sun and the Origins of the Solar System

The Sun and the Origins of the Solar System — page 5
CHAPTER 1 Understanding the sUn Although the Sun is a rather ordinary star it is the source of virtually all Earth’s energy It provides the heat and light that make life on Earth possible Yet Earth receives only about half a billionth of the energy that leaves the Sun The telescope has been used in solar studies since 1610 The solar tower telescope was later invented for use in solar studies Its long focal length can give very large images of the Sun The coronagraph another special telescope is used to examine the Sun’s outer atmosphere The instrument blocks the direct light from the Sun’s disk allowing the much dimmer corona to be viewed The Italian scientist Galileo Galilei and the German mathematician Christoph Scheiner were among the first to make telescopic observations of sunspots Scheiner’s drawings in the Rosa Ursina are of almost modern quality and there was little improvement in solar imaging until 1905 In the 1670s the British astronomer John Flamsteed 10