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The solar constant includes radiation over the entire electromagnetic spectrum. It is measured by satellite as being 1.361 kilo watts per square meter (kW/m 2) at solar minimum (the time in the 11-year solar cycle when the number of sunspots is minimal) and approximately 0.1% greater (roughly 1.362 kW/m 2) at solar maximum. [1]
It is measured facing (pointing at / parallel to) the incoming sunlight (i.e. the flux through a surface perpendicular to the incoming sunlight; other angles would not be TSI and be reduced by the dot product). [3] The solar constant is a conventional measure of mean TSI at a distance of one astronomical unit (AU).
Solar radiation pressure on objects near the Earth may be calculated using the Sun's irradiance at 1 AU, known as the solar constant, or G SC, whose value is set at 1361 W/m 2 as of 2011. [17] All stars have a spectral energy distribution that depends on their surface temperature. The distribution is approximately that of black-body radiation.
In geophysics, shortwave flux is a result of specular and diffuse reflection of incident shortwave radiation by the underlying surface. [3] This shortwave radiation, as solar radiation, can have a profound impact on certain biophysical processes of vegetation, such as canopy photosynthesis and land surface energy budgets, by being absorbed into the soil and canopies. [4]
Jupiter and Neptune have ratios of power emitted to solar power received of 2.5 and 2.7, respectively. [27] Close correlation between the effective temperature and equilibrium temperature of Uranus can be taken as evidence that processes producing an internal flux are negligible on Uranus compared to the other giant planets. [27]
In active regions the energy flux is about 10 7 erg cm −2 sec −1, in the quiet Sun it is roughly 8 10 5 – 10 6 erg cm −2 sec −1, and in coronal holes 5 10 5 - 8 10 5 erg cm −2 sec −1, including the losses due to the solar wind. [1] The required power is a small fraction of the total flux irradiated from the Sun, but this energy is ...
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The relative spectral flux density is also useful if we wish to compare a source's flux density at one wavelength with the same source's flux density at another wavelength; for example, if we wish to demonstrate how the Sun's spectrum peaks in the visible part of the EM spectrum, a graph of the Sun's relative spectral flux density will suffice.