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We Don't Know What the Sun is Made of
Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2021 10:55 pm
by Mercury
by Ken Croswell (2020 Jun 25)
For two decades, astronomers have argued over how much carbon, nitrogen, and especially oxygen lie within our closest star — a dispute with implications for the entire universe.
Link:
Knowable Magazine
Re: We Don't Know What the Sun is Made of
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:49 pm
by orin stepanek
Mostly Hydrogen, than Helium!
Re: We Don't Know What the Sun is Made of
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 6:32 pm
by neufer
orin stepanek wrote: ↑Mon Mar 22, 2021 4:49 pm
Mercury wrote: ↑Fri Mar 19, 2021 10:55 pm
by Ken Croswell
For two decades, astronomers have argued over how much carbon, nitrogen, and especially oxygen lie within our closest star — a dispute with implications for the entire universe.
Link:
Knowable Magazine
Mostly Hydrogen, than Helium!
READ THE ARTICLE:
Knowable Magazine 
Re: We Don't Know What the Sun is Made of
Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2021 9:51 am
by Forrest White
It is taught in school - the main elements of which the Sun consists are hydrogen (73%) and helium (25%). Other elements include iron, nickel, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur, silicon, carbon, magnesium, calcium, chromium, neon.
Re: We Don't Know What the Sun is Made of
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:29 pm
by Mercury
From the Knowable Magazine article:
Despite the controversy, everyone agrees on the basics: The sun consists mainly of hydrogen and helium, the two lightest elements. It generates energy at its center through nuclear reactions that convert hydrogen into helium. But because of [Martin] Asplund’s work, the amounts of the next most abundant elements [oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and neon] are all in dispute.
It matters hugely. Oxygen accounts for nearly half of all heavy atoms in the universe....
Oxygen is vital in ways both obvious and not. The obvious: We need oxygen to breathe. The less obvious: More than half of the atoms in the rocks beneath our feet are oxygen. And the element played an important role in the formation of all the planets in our solar system.
Oxygen’s critical importance doesn’t end there. After all, there’s an oxygen atom in every water molecule. “Water is essential for life,” says [Katharina] Lodders. “Water was essential for forming life.” So no oxygen, no water and no life.