Ever since I pointed my telescope at the Sun, projecting an image onto a piece of paper and saw the sunspots for myself – they were actually there! – I have always been fascinated by the star that gave us life. I have seen documentaries that showed blazing flares, coronal mass ejections, images taken using different frequency ‘light’, effects on Earth’s magnetic field, which were all fascinating, but they did not fully explain what was really going on inside the Sun to cause all these effects.
Professor Lucie Green’s 15 Million Degrees finally answered all my questions, and much more. I read the book in one session, which took me late into the night, but it was worth the trip. Professor Green has a writing style that is easy to read, yet she is able to impart highly technical information that is readily understood – the reader does need at least an entry level university education in nuclear physics, chemistry and astronomy to absorb everything.
The book smoothly traces the history of astronomy and Solar observation, development of quantum theory and understanding of the atom, which over time helped scientists understand what the Sun was, what powers it, and its behavior. Professor Green sprinkles her work with fascinating snippets of research done over the last 150 years and eureka moments that has led to our understanding of not only our own star, but stars throughout the universe. When it came to explaining some tough processes that go on inside the Sun – how light escapes, what are sunspots, flares, threats to Earth – Professor Green tackled these with skill without resorting to highly technical explanations. 15 Million Degrees left me with a much deeper understanding of our Sun, the journey immensely satisfying and rewarding.
This book can be purchased from Amazon.
About the Author
Professor Lucie Green is a solar physicist at UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory and regularly appears on the BBC’s Star Gazing Live with Professor Brian Cox, and other TV programs. She works with major international space agencies, and is helping to build Solar Orbiter, a European Space Agency spacecraft that will work its way into a close Sun orbit to study the its atmosphere. Lucie Green won the Royal Society’s Kohn Award for her work promoting public engagement with science. She sits on the Advisory Board for the Science Museum and recently became Chief Stargazer at the Society for Popular Astronomy.
