The Sun: Crash Course Astronomy #10

Phil takes us for a closer (eye safe!) look at the two-octillion-ton star that rules our solar system. We look at the sun’s core, plasma, magnetic fields, sunspots, solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and what all of that means for our planet.

PBS Digital Studios: http://youtube.com/pbsdigitalstudios

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PHOTO/VIDEO CREDITS
Hubble extrasolar planet search field in Sagittarius: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0612d/ [credit: NASA, ESA, K. Sahu (STScI) and the SWEEPS science team]
The Sun: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/499558main_hmi4096.jpg [credit: SDO/HMI]
The Sun: http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/SDO_4096_0171.jpg [credit: NASA/SDO/AIA]
Earth: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/earth-from-space-15-amazing-things-in-15-years/#.VMvNXmTF_Z0 [credit: NASA’s Earth Observatory]
Fusion in the Sun: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FusionintheSun.svg [credit: Borb]
Empire State Building: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building#mediaviewer/File:Empire_State_Building_from_the_Top_of_the_Rock.jpg
Sun Structure: https://www.flickr.com/photos/11304375@N07/2819311727/
Photospheric granulation: http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/granules.jpg
Corona: http://philhart.smugmug.com/Sun/Queensland-Solar-Eclipse/i-qjqMzzK [credit: Phil Hart]
“Magnet0873” by Newton Henry Black – Newton Henry Black, Harvey N. Davis (1913) Practical Physics, The MacMillan Co., USA, p. 242, fig. 200. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Magnet0873.png#mediaviewer/File:Magnet0873.png
Strange Days On The Sun: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=11682 [credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Images courtesy of NASA/SDO]
Under the Sunspots: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=20070 [credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab]
Raining Loops: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011100/a011168/Raining_Loops_Still_2.jpg [credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO]
Coronal Mass Ejection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_xYcMQe5KA [credit: NASA]
Aurora: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-BicSV9RAw
Soloar Close-ups: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=4061 [credit: NASA]