Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Sun. The object that gives the Earth its light and heat is a massive ball of gas and plasma 93 million miles away. Thanks to the nuclear fusion reactions taking place at its core, the Sun has been shining for four and a half billion years. Its structure, and the processes that keep it burning, have fascinated astronomers for centuries. After the invention of the telescope it became apparent that the Sun is not a placid, steadily shining body but is subject to periodic changes in its appearance and eruptions of dramatic violence, some of which can affect us here on Earth. Recent space missions have revealed fascinating new insights into our nearest star.
With:
Carolin Crawford Gresham Professor of Astronomy and Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Yvonne Elsworth Poynting Professor of Physics at the University of Birmingham
Louise Harra Professor of Solar Physics at UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
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| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time. |
| 0:38.7 | For more details about in our time and for our terms of use please go to BBC.co. |
| 0:43.2 | UK slash radio 4. I hope you enjoy the program. |
| 0:47.0 | Hello 26,000 light years from the center of our galaxy in one of the outer |
| 0:52.1 | reaches of the Milky Way is an |
| 0:54.3 | unremarkable little star. Astronomers describe it as a G-type main sequence star and |
| 1:00.2 | in most respects there's nothing interesting or unusual about it, but ever since humanity |
| 1:04.7 | first walked on the planet it's been an objective fascination. For one very good reason, |
| 1:09.9 | it's the sun, our sun. The sun's been burning for four and a half billion years, and it's the sun, our sun. The sun's been burning for 4.5 billion years, |
| 1:14.5 | and it's the source of all our energy. |
| 1:16.5 | At its core, nuclear reactions of almost unimaginable power generate heat and light, |
| 1:21.0 | which takes 100,000 years to penetrate the surface but |
| 1:24.2 | dead only another eight minutes to reach us on Earth. The greatest minds have been |
| 1:28.1 | studying our nearest star for millennia, but only in recent decades have we |
| 1:31.8 | begun to have some inkling and the astonishing processes at work inside it. |
| 1:36.7 | With me to discuss the signs of the sun, I Carolyn Crawford, Gresham Professor of Astronomy and Fellow of |
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