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The Young Sun

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Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Astronomy ((BRIEFSASTRON))

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Abstract

Meteorites and the Moon yield information on solar flares and the solar wind which, though patchy, spans 109 yr. However, as the solar wind and flares are primarily creatures of the corona they are poor measures of solar activity as a whole. According to the Standard Solar Model the Sun’s luminosity has increased from 0.7 to 1.0 L☉ in the course of the last 4.5 Gyr. The widespread presence of liquid water on the Earth’s surface at least during the last 3.8 Gyr conflicts with this finding. Various mechanisms have accordingly been proposed for warming the early Earth, including atmospheric greenhouse effects, variations in cloud cover, and the prevalence of oceans with a low albedo. Changes in the mass of the early Sun and in its activity have also been suggested in order to reconcile the SSM with the geological evidence on Earth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mineralogy, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Claudio Vita-Finzi

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  1. Claudio Vita-Finzi
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Correspondence to Claudio Vita-Finzi .

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Vita-Finzi, C. (2013). The Young Sun. In: Solar History. SpringerBriefs in Astronomy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4295-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4295-6_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4294-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4295-6

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