Title: Sunquakes : probing the interior of the sun /
Authors: Zirker, Jack B.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press,
Year: 2003
Subjects: Helioseismology.; Convection (Astrophysics)
Abstract: "In Sunquakes, J.B. Zirker tells the story of this new science and explains the physics behind these illuminating vibrations." "Zirker recounts the discovery of solar oscillations in the early 1960s and international efforts throughout the rest of the decade to explain this phenomenon. By the mid-1970s, scientists working independently in France, Germany, Japan, and the U.S. had developed a theoretical model of the Sun that postulated the existence of trapped sound and gravity waves as the cause for the roiling of the Sun's surface. Using solar oscillation data scientist derived for the first time the thermal and dynamic properties of the solar interior and revealed its complicated rotation patterns even such astronomical mysteries as the deficit of solar neutrinos were solved." "Describing the competition and cooperation among astronomers, particle physician and other theorists, as well as technological innovations that make solar observation more and more precise. Sunquakes provides professionals and nonscientist alike with an absorbing and accessible guide to the field of helioseismology. The book concludes with an account of recent efforts to probe the interiors of stars far beyond our own solar system."--Jacket.
Contents: The discovery -- Confusion and clarity -- A closer look at oscillations -- The scramble for observations: 1975-1985 -- Wheels within wheels: the sun's internal rotation -- Banishing the night -- Neutrinos from the sun -- Pictures in sound -- Rotation, convection and how the twain shall meet -- The solar dynamo -- Ad astra per aspera: "to the stars through endeavor" -- Some late news.