00:00 // Introduction
00:31 // Why the Sun Matters to Us All
02:37 // The Parker Solar Probe Mission
05:56 // Understanding the Sun’s Basics
09:19 // Historical Theories of the Sun
13:42 // What the Sun is Made Of
18:20 // Fusion as the Sun’s Power Source
22:54 // How Light Travels from the Core
28:03 // Sunspots and Magnetic Fields
32:00 // Solar Cycles
34:34 // The Sun’s Corona
40:26 // The Aurora and Solar Wind
42:20 // Explosions in the Sun’s Atmosphere
46:28 // The Sun’s Complex Nature
48:26 // Studying Other Stars
50:22 // The Sun’s Outer Limits
Watch the Q&A session here: https://youtu.be/pXoU-nZmhn8
Despite its familiarity, the Sun is a very different presence from the friendly yellow circle in children’s paintings. Our star is a broiling mass of plasma, with its powerful magnetic fields, twisted by its rotation, capable of producing dramatic events of spectacular beauty and power. Using results from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe – the fastest moving human-made object ever – and ESA’s Solar Orbiter, this spectacular lecture takes a new look at the mysteries of the Sun, and its effects on the Earth.
This lecture was recorded by Chris Lintott on 15th January 2024 at Conway Hall, London
Chris is Gresham Professor of Astronomy.
He is also a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and a Research Fellow at New College.
The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/touching-sun
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I met this bloke at Oxford train station once, told him I was a Taurus and asked what the future held. He wasn’t amused 😂
What a fantastic lecture. Thank you so much for sharing!
The sun surface is liquid metallic hydrogen. Watch Sky Scholar.
Last year, the Parker Solar Probe was a record of the speed of 476,710 miles per hour and the closest approach of 3,832,323 miles, seen from Christmas Eve 2024 at 11:53 UTC.
Gosh its amazing. I have visited Gresham before but I am now open to lectures i thought I had no interest in. this is brilliant. The cells on the surface of the sun remind me of aerial pics of the breathing surface of a forest.
Thanks Chris – excellent presentation.
Still peddling a fallacious model of the Sun. What a disgrace this presentation is. 25.22 "I don't have time to talk about this broad-brush continuous spectrum". Yeah, because that would destroy everything you've just spewed nonsense about.
Waste of space, supposed to be intelligent, looking at the stars 😂, should focus closer to home, maybe the earth, maybe go and help some old people keep warm or some other community service, to much money wasted on this stuff 🤔
So much information. Such beauty. Thank you so very much Professor Lintott. So much more to investigate.
This is stupid. Everything instead the heleosphere is in the atmosphere of the sun.