Solar Physics (redirected from Solar Terrestrial Physics)

solar physics [′sō·lər ′fiz·iks]

(astrophysics)

The scientific study of all physical phenomena connected with the sun; it overlaps with geophysics in the consideration of solar-terrestrial relationships, such as the connection between solar activity and auroras.

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Solar Physics 

a branch of astrophysics that studies the physics of the sun. The use of spectroscopic, spectrometric, photometric, photographic, and radio astronomical methods of investigation make it possible to obtain information regarding the temperature, density, and velocities of the motion of matter in the sun’s atmosphere; the excitation and ionization of the atoms of chemical elements; the sun’s electric and magnetic fields; the position, dimensions, and structure of the sun’s active formations; and changes in these characteristics with time. Through the use of instruments carried up by rockets, studies are made of the solar radiation in the distant ultraviolet and X-ray regions of the spectrum as well as of the corpuscular radiation of the sun. By employing the methods of theoretical physics to interpret these data, it has been possible to construct a physical model of the entire sun and also of the separate active formations in its atmosphere.

M. N. GNEVYSHEV