Fusion in the Sun

• Reactions and products
  • deuterium
  • positrons
  • neutrinos
• Where does the energy come from?
• A prizewinning theory

The Evidence: Solar Neutrinos

• Radiochemical experiments
  • The pioneer: Ray Davis and the Homestake Mine experiment
  • GALLEX experiment (Gran Sasso, Italy): gallium tank
• Scattering experiments
  • Super-Kamiokande (Japan); Super-K neutrino image of the Sun
    
  • Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (Canada); detector image
• The 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics
• Coda: Cosmic Gall, by John Updike

Changing Gears: The Big Picture

Stars

Physical Properties

• Apparent brightness
  data on the 125 (apparently) brightest stars
• Luminosity
• Distance: parallax
  data on the 100 nearest stars
  searchable database of nearby stars
• Mass: from binary systems

  visual binaries

  spectroscopic binaries