The standard solar model was so reliable that it could predict the existence of the massive neutrino. Helio-seismology measurements were so precise that they could determine the depth of the convection zone. This agreement between theory and observation was the envy of all astrophysics-until recently, when sophisticated three-dimensional hydrodynamic calculations of the solar atmosphere reduced the metal content by a factor of almost 2. Antia & Basu suggested that a higher value of the solar neon abundance, A_(Ne)/A_O = 0.52, would resolve this controversy. Drake & Testa presented evidence in favor of this idea from a sample of 21 Chandra stars with enhanced values of the neon abundance, A_(Ne)/A_O = 0.41. In this Letter, we have analyzed solar active region spectra from the archive of the Flat Crystal Spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission, a NASA mission from the 1980s, as well as full-Sun spectra from the pioneering days of X-ray astronomy in the 1960s. These data are consistent with the standard neon-to-oxygen abundance value, A_(Ne)/A_O = 0.15 (Grevesse & Sauval). We conclude, therefore, that the enhanced-neon hypothesis will not resolve the current controversy.
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