Based on the main findings of nine solar spacecraft missions, this book offers information on key advances in the field. It also provides the scientific objective of those missions and historical perspective on studies of the sun and heliosphere.

The First Edition of The Sun from Space, completed in 1999, focused on the early accomplishments of three solar spacecraft, SOHO, Ulysses, and Yohkoh, primarily during a minimum in the Sun's 11-year cycle of magnetic activity. The comp- hensive Second Edition includes the main ndings of these three spacecraft over an entire activity cycle, including two minima and a maximum, and discusses the signi cant results of six more solar missions. Four of these, the Hinode, RHESSI, STEREO, and TRACE missions were launched after the First Edition was either nished or nearly so, and the other two, the ACE and Wind spacecraft, extend our investigations from the Sun to its varying input to the Earth. The Second Edition does not contain simple updates or cosmetic patch ups to the material in the First Edition. It instead contains the relevant discoveries of the past decade, integrated into chapters completely rewritten for the purpose. This provides a fresh perspective to the major topics of solar enquiry, written in an enjoyable, easily understood text accessible to all readers, from the interested layperson to the student or professional.

Main text free of formulas and therefore suitable for general reader Formulas concentrated in "Focus sections" providing condensed physics for students Each Chapter ends with a bullet type summary of highlights and a chronological listing of key events Thousands of fundamental references keyed Comprehensive and up-to-date account of the current knowledge of the sun Lavishly illustrated with many color figures K. Lang is a well-known author ("Astrophysical Formulae", "Sun, Earth and Sky", "Wanderers in Space") and as a collaborator of NASA especially an expert on the Sun Gleaming reviews of first edition in CHOICE, Sciene Magazine, The Observatory Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Klappentext

This volume is a comprehensive, up-to-date account of solar astrophysics and how our perception and knowledge of this star have evolved as mankind has elucidated ever more of its mysteries. The emphasis of this second edition of The Sun from Space is on the last decade, which includes the findings of the SOHO, Ulysses, and Yohkoh solar spacecraft missions over an entire 11-year cycle of solar activity, the results of the RHESSI solar spacecraft launched during this interval, the early findings of the recently launched Hinode and STEREO solar spacecraft, and the ACE and Wind spacecraft that extend our investigations of the Sun to its varying input to Earth over the past ten years.

Inhalt
Instruments for a Revolution.- Discovering Space.- Exploring Unseen Depths of the Sun.- Solving the Sun's Heating Crisis.- Winds Across the Void.- Our Violent Sun.- Space Weather.- References.