Related papers: An orbital window into the ancient Sun's mass
Solar oblateness has been the subject of several studies dating back to the nineteenth century. Despite diffculties, both theoretical and observational, tangible results have been achieved. However, variability of the solar oblateness with…
The variability of the spectral solar irradiance (SSI) over the course of the 11-year solar cycle is one of the manifestations of solar magnetic activity. There is a strong evidence that the SSI variability has an effect on the Earth's…
The dominant part of the difference between the observed and model frequencies of the Sun can be approximated by a power law. We show that when this empirical law is employed to correct the model frequencies and then the small frequency…
Stars grow by accreting gas that has an evolving composition owing to the growth and inward drift of dust (pebble wave), the formation of planetesimals and planets, and the selective removal of hydrogen and helium by disk winds. We…
Helioseismic observations have revealed many properties of the Sun: the depth and the helium abundance of the convection zone, the sound-speed and the density profiles in the solar interior. Those constraints have been used to judge the…
Recent observations of solar twin stars with planetary systems like the Sun, have uncovered that these present a peculiar surface chemical composition. This is believed to be related to the formation of earth-like planets. This suggests…
The Sun is the most studied and well-known star, and as such, solar fundamental parameters are often used to bridge gaps in the knowledge of other stars, when these are required for modelling. However, the two most powerful and precise…
As the powerhouse of our solar system, the Sun's electromagnetic planetary influences appear contradictory. On the one hand, the Sun for aeons emitted radiation which was "just right" for life to evolve in our terrestrial Goldilocks zone,…
More than two dozen short-period Jupiter-mass gas giant planets have been discovered around nearby solar-type stars in recent years, several of which undergo transits, making them ideal for the detection and characterization of their…
The Solar System's orbital structure is thought to have been sculpted by an episode of dynamical instability among the giant planets. However, the instability trigger and timing have not been clearly established. Hydrodynamical modeling has…
We consider a dynamical shake-up model to explain the low mass of Mars and the lack of planets in the asteroid belt. In our scenario, a secular resonance with Jupiter sweeps through the inner solar system as the solar nebula depletes,…
We report on the results of the Sun in Time multi-wavelength program (X-rays to the UV) of solar analogs with ages covering ~0.1-7 Gyr. The chief science goals are to study the solar magnetic dynamo and to determine the radiative and…
The Sun's magnetic dynamo cycle features a distinct pattern: a propagating region of sunspot emergence appears around 30 degrees latitude and vanishes near the equator every 11 years. Moreover, longitudinal flows called "torsional…
We present a brief review of observational results contributing to modern ideas on the evolution of stellar activity. Basic laws, derived for both rotation-age and activity-rotation relationships, allow us to trace how the activity of…
The interior structure of the Sun can be studied with great accuracy using observations of its oscillations, similar to seismology of the Earth. Precise agreement between helioseismological measurements and predictions of theoretical solar…
Due to tidal interactions in the Earth-Moon system, the spin of the Earth slows down and the Moon drifts away. This recession of the Moon is now measured with great precision, but it has been realized, more than fifty years ago, that simple…
For more than 140 years the chemical composition of our Sun has been considered typical of solar-type stars. Our highly differential elemental abundance analysis of unprecedented accuracy (~0.01 dex) of the Sun relative to solar twins,…
Implications of the recently discovered systematic abundance difference between the Sun and two collections of `solar twins' are discussed. The differences can be understood as an imprint on the abundances of the solar convection zone…
The magnetic activity of the Sun becomes stronger and weaker over roughly an 11 year cycle, modulating the radiation and charged particle environment experienced by the Earth as "space weather". Decades of observations from the Mount Wilson…
Meteorites, which are remnants of solar system formation, provide a direct glimpse into the dynamics and evolution of a young stellar object (YSO), namely our Sun. Much of our knowledge about the astrophysical context of the birth of the…