Theultraviolet light emitted by eleven times ionized iron at temperaturesover 2 million degrees Farenheit was used to record the above picture of theSun on September 22, the date of theautumnal equinox.The image was made b the EIT camera onboar the SOHO spacecraft, a space observatory which can continuousl observe the Sun.Eleven times ionized iron i atomiciron with eleven of its electrons stripped away.Here the electrons are stripped by thefrantic collisions with other atoms and electronswhich occur at the extreme temperatures i theSolar Corona.Since electrons are negatively charged, theresulting ionized iron atom is highl positively charged.Astronomer's "shorthand" for eleven times ionized iron is written"Fe XII", the chemicalsymbol for iron followed by Romannumeral 12 (Fe I is neutral iron).
No comments:
Post a Comment