Has a high temperature. On the surface, it is about 5500 degrees Celsius. The Sun has an atmosphere called a corona. This region consists of superheated gas - plasma. Its temperature reaches over 3 million degrees. And scientists are trying to figure out why the outer layer of the Sun is so much hotter than everything underneath.

The problem that confuses scientists is quite simple. Since the source of energy is in the center of the Sun, its body must become increasingly cool as it moves away from the center. But observations suggest otherwise. And so far, scientists cannot explain why the corona of the Sun is hotter than its other layers.

old secret

Despite its temperature, the solar corona is usually not visible to an earthly observer. This is due to the intense brightness of the rest of the Sun. Even sophisticated instruments cannot probe it without taking into account the light emanating from the Sun's surface. But this does not mean that existence solar corona is a recent discovery. It can be seen in the rare but predictable events that have fascinated people for millennia. These are complete.

In 1869, astronomers took advantage of such an eclipse to study the outer layer of the Sun that suddenly opened up for observation. They pointed spectrometers at the Sun to study the elusive corona material. The researchers found an unfamiliar green line in the spectrum of the corona. The unknown substance was named coronium. However, seventy years later, scientists realized that it was a familiar element - iron. But heated to previously unseen millions of degrees.

An early theory said that acoustic waves (think of the Sun's material contracting and expanding like an accordion) could be responsible for the temperature of the corona. In many ways, this is similar to how a wave throws drops of water at high speed onto the shore. But solar probes have been unable to find waves with a power that explains the observed coronal temperature.

For almost 150 years, this riddle has been one of the small but interesting mysteries of science. At the same time, scientists are confident that their knowledge of temperature both on the surface and in the corona is quite correct.

The Sun's Magnetic Field: How Does It Work?

Part of the problem is that we don't understand a lot of the little things that happen on the Sun. We know how it does its job of warming our planet. But models of the materials and forces involved in this process simply do not yet exist. We cannot yet get close enough to the Sun to study it in detail.

The answer to most questions about the Sun these days is that the Sun is a very complex magnet. The earth also has a magnetic field. But, despite the oceans and underground magma, it is still much denser than the Sun. Which is just a big bunch of gas and plasma. The earth is a more solid object.

The sun also rotates. But since it is not solid, its poles and equator rotate at different speeds. Matter moves up and down the layers of the Sun, like in a pot of boiling water. This effect causes confusion in the lines magnetic field. The charged particles that make up the outer layers of the Sun travel along lines like high-speed trains. railways. These lines break and reconnect, releasing huge amounts of energy (solar flares). Or they produce swirls full of charged particles that can be freely ejected from these rails into space at tremendous speed (coronal mass ejection).

We have many satellites that are already tracking the Sun. Solarer Pro, launched this year, is just beginning its observations. It will continue its work until 2025. Scientists hope the mission will provide answers to many puzzling questions about the Sun.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

We got acquainted with the rotation of the Sun and with the solar-terrestrial mutual-centric motion.
Now let's turn our eyes to the moon!

How does the Moon rotate, how does it move around the planet Earth and in the system of mutual-centrism the Sun - Earth?
Since the school course of astronomy, we know that the Moon revolves around the Earth in the same direction as the Earth around its axis. The time of a complete revolution (period of rotation) of the Moon around the Earth relative to the stars is called sidereal or starry month (lat. sidus - star). He makes up 27,32 days.
synodic month, or lunation (Greek synodos - connection) is the period of time between two successive identical phases of the moon or the period of time between successive new moons - averages 29.53 days (709 hours). The synodic month is longer than the sidereal month. The reason for this is the rotation of the Earth (together with the Moon) around the Sun. In 27.32 days, the Moon makes a complete revolution around the Earth, which during this time passes an arc of approximately 27 ° in orbit. More than two days are needed for the Moon to again take the appropriate place relative to the Sun and the Earth, i.e. so that this phase (new moon) comes again.
lunar path (trajectory of the Moon on the celestial sphere), like the solar ecliptic, passes through 12 zodiac constellations. The reason for this is the actual rotation of the Moon around the Earth in a plane that almost coincides with the plane of the orbit of our planet. The angle between the planes of the ecliptic and the monthly lunar path is only 5°9".
The moon rotates on its axis , but it always faces the Earth with the same side, that is, the revolution of the Moon around the Earth and rotation around its own axis are synchronized.

How to practically confirm the official statements?

To this end, let us turn to such a phenomenon as an eclipse of the Sun, in which it is the Moon that plays a key role.
Solar eclipse - an astronomical phenomenon, which consists in the fact that the Moon closes (eclipses) the Sun in whole or in part from an observer on Earth. A solar eclipse is possible only on a new moon, when the side of the moon facing the Earth is not illuminated, and the moon itself is not visible. Eclipses are possible only if the new moon occurs near one of the two lunar nodes (points of intersection of the apparent orbits of the Moon and the Sun), no more than about 12 degrees from one of them.
Moon shadow on earth's surface does not exceed 270 km in diameter, so the solar eclipse is observed only in a narrow band on the path of the shadow. Since the Moon revolves in an elliptical orbit, the distance between the Earth and the Moon at the time of an eclipse can be different, respectively, the diameter of the lunar shadow spot on the Earth's surface can vary widely from maximum to zero (when the top of the cone of the lunar shadow does not reach the Earth's surface). If the observer is in the shadow band, he sees a total solar eclipse, in which the Moon completely hides the Sun, the sky darkens, and planets and bright stars. Around the solar disk hidden by the Moon, one can observe solar corona , which is not visible under the normal bright light of the Sun. Because the temperature of the corona is much warmer than that of the photosphere, it has a faint bluish color, unexpected to first-timers, and very different from the expected color of the Sun. When the eclipse is observed by a stationary ground observer, the total phase lasts no more than a few minutes. The minimum speed of the moon's shadow on the earth's surface is just over 1 km/s. During the full solar eclipse astronauts in orbit can observe the moving shadow of the moon on the surface of the earth.

Let's look at the video, how Wikipedia presents the passage of the Moon through the disk of the sun at a great distance from the Earth.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/29/Moon_transit_of_sun_large.ogv/Moon_transit_of_sun_large.ogv.480p.vp9.webm
Video 1.

Step by step it looks like this:


Fig 1. The passage of the Moon through the disk of the sun at a great distance from the Earth 25.02.2007 .
The moon passes across the solar disk in the videofrom left to right. It must have been satellite imagery.

How does the Moon's shadow travel across the Earth during an eclipse?

Consider the recent real total solar eclipse!
Total solar eclipse August 21, 2017.
Total solar eclipse on August 21st 2017 is the 22nd eclipse one hundred and forty-fifth Saros.
The region of its best visibility falls in the middle and subtropical latitudes of the northern hemisphere.

Video 2. Animation SZ 21.08.2017
This animation shows that The moon's shadow moving across the western hemisphere of the earth, North America left to right or from west to east.

The eclipse reaches its maximum at the point with coordinates 37°N, 87.7°W, lasts a maximum of 2 minutes 40 seconds, and the width of the moon's shadow on the earth's surface is 115 kilometers. At the moment and at the point of greatest eclipse, the direction to the sun (azimuth) is 198°, and the height of the sun above the horizon is 64°.
dynamic world time at the time of greatest eclipse: 18:26:40, dynamic time correction: 70 seconds.
The axis of the shadow passes between the center of the earth and north pole, the minimum distance from the center of the Earth to the axis of the cone of the lunar shadow is 2785 kilometers. Thus, the Gamma of the eclipse is 0.4367, and the maximum phase reaches 1.0306.

total solar eclipse - a solar eclipse in which the cone of the moon's shadow crosses the earth's surface (the moon is close enough to the earth to completely block the sun). The average length of the moon's shadow is 373320 km, and the distance from the Earth to the Moon on August 21, 2017 is 362,235 km. At the same time, the apparent diameter of the Moon is 1.0306 times greater than the apparent diameter of the solar disk. During a total eclipse, the solar corona, stars and planets that are close to the Sun are visible.

Figure 2. The passage of the moon's shadow across the western hemisphere of the Earth.

Look at the NW in the original, through the eyes of US observers.

https://youtu.be/lzJD7eT2pUE
Video 3.

Fig 3. Phases of the solar eclipse.
(above), gradually covers the Sun, forming its left crescent. Closes completely, then opens the right crescent of the Sun.
We see a picture opposite to that shown in Video and Fig. one.

2017 total solar eclipse from Idaho Falls, state Idaho, August 21, 2017.

Video 4. NW in Idaho.

Rice. 4,5,6. NW in Idaho.
An interesting breakthrough of the sun's rays after a total eclipse?

Total Solar Eclipse 2017 from Beatrice, Nebraska, August 21, 2017
https://youtu.be/gE3rmKISGu4
Video 5. NW in Nebraska.
Also in these videos, the Moon passes through the Sun from the top right, goes down to the left, revealing the Sun.

Now let's see how telescopes mounted on artificial satellites earth.
Solar eclipse 2017 as seen by Hinode JAXA on August 21, 2017.

Video 6.
Satellite solar observation Hinode captured the partial solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. The images were taken with the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard the Hinode during its flight over Pacific Ocean(off the west coast of the United States). at an altitude of 680 km.

From satellite too The moon "runs over" the sun from the right, only below.

Now consider the movement of the moon's shadow on the globe.

2017 total solar eclipse as observed by DSCOVR EPIC (4K)

Video 7.

NASA's Polychromatic Earth Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard the NOAA Deep Space Observatory (DSCOVR) captured the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 from space.
We see the movement of a shadow on the surface of the western hemisphere. It moves from west to east, ahead of its own rotation of the globe in the same direction!
Still, the picture is not perceived by a living planet; as if the "simulator" reproduces some programmed fragment of the movement. Clouds rotate synchronously with the Earth. Several questions arise: Why do clouds stay the same as the earth rotates? How fast and why does the moon's shadow move in this direction? How long did it take for this shadow to cross America?

Let's look at a nice animation of this solar eclipse.

Video 8. Total solar eclipse 2017.

Rice. 7,8,9. The movement of the lunar shadow across the globe during the SZ on 08/21/2017

ecliptic line - the plane of motion, clearly seen in the eclipse of the Moon and the Sun. We are taught that the eclipse occurs only along the described line.
We are also well aware that the line of the ecliptic does not rise above the Tropic of Cancer (23.5° above the celestial equator) nor does it fall below the Tropic of Capricorn (-23.5° below the celestial equator).
The sun is at its zenith (a point in the celestial sphere located above the observer's head) only in the region of the globe lying between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. The tropics are imaginary parallel circles on the surface of the globe, 23 degrees and 27 minutes north and south of the equator. To the north of the equator is the Northern Tropic (aka the Tropic of Cancer), to the south - the Southern Tropic (the Tropic of Capricorn). In the tropics, once a year (June 22 at the Tropic of Cancer and December 22 at the Tropic of Capricorn), the center of the Sun at noon passes through the zenith. Between the tropics lies a region in which the sun is at its zenith twice a year at every point. North of the Tropic of Cancer and south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the Sun never rises to its zenith.

As projected onto the globe, the ecliptic runs between 23.5° north latitude and south latitude, between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

Rice. ten. Earth, the equator and the tropics of Cancer, Capricorn are indicated.

The question arises: Why do eclipses occur above the Tropic of Cancer and below the Tropic of Capricorn if the Sun's ecliptic is not projected onto these regions?

We look carefully at Fig 6,7,8- animation of the NW, for the shift of the point - the center of the total eclipse of the Sun in North America. This point runs from left to right, from west to east, from the 50th to the 30th parallel north. So the projection of a total eclipse is shadow point movement(the total phase of the eclipse) passes above the Tropic of Cancer, above 23.5 ° north latitude.
Consequently, the assertion that eclipses occur only along the line of the solar ecliptic is refuted!

According to the credits on the animation:
To the state Oregon in the northwest the shadow of the total eclipse was entering 10.15.50 am , 44°53"N, 125°88"W. (Fig. 7)
out of state South Carolina (Charleston) in the southeast the shadow came into 02.48.50 pm (14.48.50) , 32°49"N, 79°03"W. (Fig. 9)
Between these points of order 4000 km. the shadow-point passed in 4 hours 33 minutes ( 16380 sec). So the shadow passed at a speed 0.244 km/s.
According to the data obtained, the complete SZ occurred on a trajectory line much higher than the ecliptic, at a latitude of 32° - 44 ° and above the Tropic of Cancer (23.5°). And we do not take the movement of the penumbra, but only the movement of the point of total eclipse, when the Moon completely covers the Sun. What does it mean? The Sun and Moon are not currently in the ecliptic region if they are projected to 44 degrees north latitude on Earth? And the declination of the Sun in the sky at this moment is +12° (see below) above the celestial equator and does not go beyond the boundaries of the tropic. And astronomers know that the declination is fully consistent with the earth's latitude. Are they lying? So, the celestial equator does not coincide with the earth? Why is this happening?

Let's compare with the data of the Astrocalculator.


Screenshot 1. 08/21/2017 observation point 37°N, 87.7°W

The angle between the planes of the ecliptic and the moon's monthly path is small, maximum 5°9".
The ecliptic is indicated by one white line, and the trajectory of the Moon's motion is multiple.
We see that the eclipse occurs at the ascending node of the moon.

Screen 2,3,4. Phases of a solar eclipse. The Moon "runs over" the Sun from the west (right).

The astrocalculator reproduces the sky through the eyes of an observer who is facing south. East on the left, west on the right. We see that the moon is moving to the right (west), “runs into” the sun, we see its left sickle. After the total eclipse we see the right solar crescent. Everything is exactly as in Rice. 3. The Moon and the Sun for the observer move from left to right, from east to west - sunrise, sunset (visibility due to earth's rotation).

On the frames (screenshots) of the calculator, it is noticeable that the Sun and the Moon are on 10 hour meridian(right ascension) in the zodiac constellation Leo, almost next to the star Regulus.

Screenshot 5. SZ occurs in constellation Leo, next to the star Regul.
Sun Declination +11°52".

The earth rotates counterclockwise (from West to East) at a speed 0.465 km/s
The moon revolves around the earth counterclockwise(from West to East)at orbital speed 1,023 km/sec ( divide the orbit length 2x3.14xR (R=384000 km) by a rotation period of 27.32 days).
In Wiki we read: Minimum moon shadow speed on the earth's surface is slightly more 1 km/s. It turns out that the speed of the Moon in orbit is equal to the speed of the moon's shadow on the Earth. More and more linear speed of rotation of the earth around its axis.
Is it so? Above, we have already calculated the speed of the moon's shadow - 0.244 km/s. Speed ​​calculated from the official eclipse animation.
Let's continue the research.

Rice. 5. Solar eclipse.

Let's look closely at this general educational picture of the origin of a solar eclipse.

The direction of the Earth's movement is counterclockwise, from west to east red arrow.
If the Moon were static, then the shadow of the Moon during the rotation of the Earth would shift in the opposite direction, to the west, along black shooters.
However, the Moon is moving in the direction of the Earth's rotation ( along the red arrow), its orbital speed is more than twice the speed of its rotation. That is why the movement of the moon's shadow on the earth's surface from west to east is observed. But with what speed should the shadow move away from the observer on the ground to the left, i.e. towards the east (observer facing south) - the question is open? … open for discussion!

So, let's sum up some results in our study of the motion of the Moon.

The Moon moves to the left of the fixed stellar sphere (for an observer from the earth facing south), from west to east, in the direction of the rotation of the Earth itself, but faster, at a rate of one rotation in 27.3 days, 13.2 ° per day, or 1,023 km/s D lights up the Sun and "runs" on it from the right during a solar eclipse. This happens because the Sun moves along the signs of the zodiac also to the east, making a full circle in 365.24 days, slower than 1 ° per day.

The shadow of the Moon moves to the left, overtakes the rotation of the Earth, passes along the earth's surface from west to east.

For the observer from the Earth (in the northern hemisphere), the picture of the eclipse itself, the displacement of the luminaries of the Sun and the Moon will occur to the right, to the west, i.e. from sunrise to sunset. This movement is connected with the rotation of the Earth around its axis from west to east.

Some questions raised in the topic remain open, I will be glad to hear answers and justifications.

I myself will try in the next part to clarify these issues, based on the actual rotation of the moon.
To be continued…