GeoScience Ch 15 Vocab

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active region

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An area on the Sun where magnetic fields are concentrated; sunspots, prominences, flares, and CMEs all tend to occur in active regions.

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aurora

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Light radiated by atoms and ions in the ionosphere excited by charged particles from the Sun, mostly seen in the magnetic polar regions.

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chromosphere

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The part of the solar atmosphere that lies immediately above the photospheric layers.

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corona

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The outer (hot) atmosphere of the Sun.

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coronal hole

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A region in the Sun’s outer atmosphere that appears darker because there is less hot gas there.

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coronal mass ejection (CME)

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A solar flare in which immense quantities of coronal material—mainly protons and electrons—are ejected at high speeds (500–1000 kilometers per second) into interplanetary space.

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differential rotation

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The phenomenon that occurs when different parts of a rotating object rotate at different rates at different latitudes.

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granulation

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The rice-grain-like structure of the solar photosphere; granulation is produced by upwelling currents of gas that are slightly hotter, and therefore brighter, than the surrounding regions, which are flowing downward into the Sun.

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Maunder Minimum

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A period during the seventeenth century when the number of sunspots seen throughout the solar cycle was unusually low.

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photosphere

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The region of the solar (or stellar) atmosphere from which continuous radiation escapes into space.