Speaker: Matt West
Meridian room of ROB
ABSTRACT - The visible surface of the sun has a temperature of around 6000K. Surprisingly, the overlying Solar atmosphere (the solar corona) is found have a temperature 200 to 500 times higher. For more than a half-century, astronomers have tried to figure out what causes the corona to be so hot, and it is one of the outstanding problems in astrophysics. In this presentation, Matthew West will present the coronal heating problem, a brief history of observations and different mechanisms that have been put forward to answer how the corona is so heated.
CONTEXT - This seminar is one of the series of seminars on the basics of solar and heliospheric physics, aimed at our ROB, IASB and RMI colleagues who have a sound knowledge of physics and mathematics but never had a formal education in solar and heliospheric physics. These talks will provide an overview of the most important aspects without going in too much detail. References for further reading are provided.
These series of seminars are organised by Antonio Martinez and Cis Verbeeck
