We cannot observe the way the distant universe accelerates cosmic rays or produces energetic photons, but acceleration processes also occur on our Sun , though on a much more moderate scale. ... That is why such events are often missed by cosmic ray detectors near the equator, where the lowest energies are excluded by the Earth's magnetic field. The best detectors for observing solar particles are therefore those sensitive to the lowest energies of the cosmic radiation. ...
... Energy . ... Solar Wind . ... Field . ... The Sun is our nearest star and the source of energy for life on Earth. ... For centuries astronomers wondered whether they were clouds floating in the Sun's atmosphere, but we now know that they really are huge regions of magnetic field, about as intense as the field at the poles of an iron magnet. For some reason the field slows down the flow of heat from the Sun's interior and keeps sunspots slightly cooler than their surroundings. ... Solar Eclipses . ...
Thought-Provoking Imagery Shows Sun's Place in the Galaxy . ... SOHO - Explosive Coronal Mass Ejections from the Sun . SOHO-6 Comet at 2-6 solar radii from the Sun . ... The remarkable images come from SOHO's visible-light coronagraph, LASCO, which is able to mask the intense rays from the Sun's surface in order to reveal the much fainter glow of the solar atmosphere, or corona. ... SOHO is ideally placed to report and even anticipate their origins in the Sun's atmosphere. ... The Sun . ...