num_pages: 144
description: The Sun as our nearest star is of enormous importance for life on Earth - providing the warm radiation and light which allowed complex life to evolve. The Sun plays a key role in influencing our climate whilst solar storms and high-energy events can threaten our communication infrastructure and satellites.This Very Short Introduction explores what we know about the Sun its physics its structure origins and future evolution. Philip Judge explains some of the remaining puzzles about the Sun that still confound us using elementary physics and mathematical concepts. Why does the Sun form spots? Why does it flare? As he shows these and other nagging difficulties relate to the Sun's continually variable magnetism which converts an otherwise dull star into a machine for flooding interplanetary space with variable radiation high-energy particles and magnetic ejections. Throughout Judge highlights the many reasons that the Sun is important and why scientists engage in solar research.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts analysis perspective new ideas and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
language: English
title: The Sun: A Very Short Introduction
publisher: Oxford University Press, USA