Standard Solar Model: Learn About Its Complexity

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around finding resources and references related to the standard solar models, including books and online materials. Participants share their recommendations and insights into the complexity of solar models and stellar evolution.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Technical explanation, Resource sharing

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks recommendations for books or sources specifically about standard solar models, expressing difficulty in finding relevant materials.
  • Another participant suggests "An Introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure" by Chandrasekhar as a classic resource, noting its comprehensibility despite some challenging sections.
  • A participant provides links to free online references that may be suitable, indicating the need for more specific interests to tailor the suggestions.
  • Another recommendation includes the MESA software for stellar evolution, highlighting its capabilities to model the sun and provide detailed information about its conditions.
  • A participant mentions a website by former JPL astrophysicist Tim Thompson, which contains a list of references and textbooks, although it has not been updated recently.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the value of the resources shared, but there is no consensus on a single best source, as different materials may cater to varying levels of understanding and specific interests.

Contextual Notes

Some participants note the complexity of the materials and the potential for varying levels of comprehension, indicating that the appropriateness of resources may depend on the reader's background knowledge.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in astrophysics, stellar structure, and solar models may find the shared resources and discussions beneficial for their studies or research.

Leonardo Machado
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Hi everyone.
I'm looking for a good book or some good source of informations about the stantard solar models, but i can only find compact stars stuff. Do you guys have any sugestions ?
 
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My only star book is "An introduction to the Study of Stellar Structure" by Chandrasekhar. It's out of my depths in places, but the basics are there too and are very comprehensible. It's a Dover book paperback. I suppose it's classic because that's what Dover chooses.
 
A great reference is the http://mesa.sourceforge.net/index.html, which has software for stellar evolution. To look at a model of the sun, click on "code capabilities" and then "Evolve a 1 Msun star". If you download the movie of the evolution, it has pretty much everything you might want to know about the conditions in the sun - temperature, pressure, composition, ... You can single step through the movie and watch the sun evolve. Model # 279, with a log(age) of 9.71 years most closely matches the condition of the sun today. I think it's interesting to note that the sun is already ~68% He4 at the center - the gas tank is down to half full!
 
There is a comprehensive list on the website of former JPL astrophysicist Tim Thompson. I first came across Tim as I was investigating a certain pseudoscience, and Tim is a great debunker of such. Hopefully I can link the page. It hasn't been updated in some years, but is still very relevant:
http://www.tim-thompson.com/fusion.html#note1

Check out the references at the bottom of the page, a number of which are textbooks.
 

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