Conditions of Escape of Radio-frequency Energy from the Sun and the Stars

Abstract

IN several communications in Nature^1,2,3,4 and elsewhere, various British, Australian and New Zealand workers have described experiments carried out during the War which prove conclusively that during times of solar disturbance there are large outbursts of radio-frequency energy from the sun. The wave-lengths measured vary from 1.5 metres to 30 metres (10 Mc. to 200 Mc.). On a rough estimate, the intensity of emission appears to be, as Appleton¹ has shown, 10⁴ times the value calculated from the black-body formula taking T = 6,000° K. If we assume that the radiation proceeds only from the active areas, as appears to be corroborated by the experiments now in progress at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge*, the emissivity of these regions for the range mentioned is increased nearly 10⁷–10⁸ times the black-body radiation.