I decided the website needed more in depth detail regarding the workings of our Solar System. We start or journey at the heart of our solar syatem - THE SUN.
The largest star, at the centre of our solar system, at a distance of 92.96 million miles from Earth. This distance is known as an astronomical unit (or AU) and is used for measuring distances across our solar system.
The Sun, a monstrous sphere of mainly ionized gas, supports the life on Earth, as well as spreading light and heat across our solar system.
The Sun, a monstrous sphere of mainly ionized gas, supports the life on Earth, as well as spreading light and heat across our solar system.
The Sun doesn't have a definite boundary like other planets, and in the outer parts density of its gases drop with increasing distance from its centre. However, it does have a well-defined interior structure (pictured and detailed below).
The core is the hot, dense central part in which the nuclear reactions take place. This is about 25% of the interior radius.
The radioactive zone is where the main transport of energy takes place (as well as the core) by photons (electromagnetic radiation). It is about 25% to 85% of the core radius.
The convective zone starts at around 85% of the core to just below the surface. It is a region where the change in temperature is so rapid that the Sun becomes unstable to convection - much like the Earth's atmosphere becomes convectively unstable on hot days, producing thunderstorms
The visible surface of the Sun, the photosphere, is the layer below which the Sun becomes opaque to visible light. Above the photosphere visible sunlight is free to propagate into space, and its energy escapes the Sun entirely. The photosphere is tens to hundreds of kilometers thick
The connections between the Sun and Earth are what drives our seasons, weather, climate and ocean currents.
Life Without The Sun?
Without the Sun we would, to put nicely, be screwed. For a start without the Sun, the Earth wouldn’t even exist. With no Sun the earth would be a cold
rock with no life and would simply be stationary as it would have no star to orbit.
If the Sun died out all life would probably die as there would be no sunlight.
The Earth would slip out of orbit and asteroid belts would be thrown into us and other planets, as well as orbiting Earth and other planets.
Earth may slip into the orbit of Jupiter.
Earth would no longer be considered a planet as it would no longer be orbiting a star.
Eventually Earth and the other planets would slip into the orbit of other stars but this would be over a period of millions of years.
Of course, all of this is just theory, as with no Sun we would all die and would never see this happen!
The fact is, the sun has been converting 7000 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second (releasing enormous energy that makes the sun shine), for 4.5 billion years. It is also expected to continue doing so for a similar length of time, so we don't need to worry about life without it - at least not in this lifetime.
Sun facts
The sun has a radius of 432,200 miles (864,950 miles diameter) and is 50 times greater than that of Jupiter. In earth terms that's 1,300,000 earths.
That's one giant star! It almost makes you feel insignificant when put in perspective.
What's also quite amazing is the age of the 'star' of this article. The sun is 4.6 billion years old. That means it's been around for some time and will have been witness to some amazing changes in our universe. If only we knew a part of what the sun has seen.
If we could visit the sun, not that that is ever likely, one day on the sun is the equivalent to 25.38 earth days. That means that a full earth year would only be 14.381 days on the sun. At least it wouldn't seem as long to wait for your birthday!
With a surface temperature of 5500 degrees c, nothing could survive on the sun, and not even the most hardcore tanorexics would survive been that close to the sun, never mind actually being on it.
Without the Sun we would, to put nicely, be screwed. For a start without the Sun, the Earth wouldn’t even exist. With no Sun the earth would be a cold
rock with no life and would simply be stationary as it would have no star to orbit.
If the Sun died out all life would probably die as there would be no sunlight.
The Earth would slip out of orbit and asteroid belts would be thrown into us and other planets, as well as orbiting Earth and other planets.
Earth may slip into the orbit of Jupiter.
Earth would no longer be considered a planet as it would no longer be orbiting a star.
Eventually Earth and the other planets would slip into the orbit of other stars but this would be over a period of millions of years.
Of course, all of this is just theory, as with no Sun we would all die and would never see this happen!
The fact is, the sun has been converting 7000 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second (releasing enormous energy that makes the sun shine), for 4.5 billion years. It is also expected to continue doing so for a similar length of time, so we don't need to worry about life without it - at least not in this lifetime.
Sun facts
The sun has a radius of 432,200 miles (864,950 miles diameter) and is 50 times greater than that of Jupiter. In earth terms that's 1,300,000 earths.
That's one giant star! It almost makes you feel insignificant when put in perspective.
What's also quite amazing is the age of the 'star' of this article. The sun is 4.6 billion years old. That means it's been around for some time and will have been witness to some amazing changes in our universe. If only we knew a part of what the sun has seen.
If we could visit the sun, not that that is ever likely, one day on the sun is the equivalent to 25.38 earth days. That means that a full earth year would only be 14.381 days on the sun. At least it wouldn't seem as long to wait for your birthday!
With a surface temperature of 5500 degrees c, nothing could survive on the sun, and not even the most hardcore tanorexics would survive been that close to the sun, never mind actually being on it.
Observing The Sun
The most obvious thing to point out here is NEVER look directly at the sun. Although you could look at the sun for a little while and it doesn't appear to be doing any damage - the fact is - it will have done. UV light causes cells to die, so you will end up with blind spots or blindness as worst case. When we get sun burn our skin cells can repair - this isn't the case for eyes. Once damaged, it can't be undone!
One safe way to observe the sun is through a telescope - but again NEVER WITH THE NAKED EYE!!!
The best technique for this is known as projection. This entails aligning a telescope with the sun the light shines down the tube, but is then projected out of the eyepiece onto a piece of card.
The sun is so bright it will produce a sharp image, and focusing the telescope as you would normally will make the image sharper.
Putting the card into a shadow or using a dark card instead of white will help the image stand out more.
However, here is some simple advise to heed before you do this.
Don't align the telescope by looking through it!! This will kill your eye for sure!
If you have a finder scope on your telescope - put the cap on it! This will prevent you getting burnt if sunlight passes through it.
ALWAYS check the suitability of your scope for projecting the sun. Some may have plastic in the tube or eyepiece and may melt under the magnified heat.
Alternatively you can now buy special filters to look at the sun. I would recommend buying these from a reputable source and always check for damage and holes. After all, if you take any chances with looking at the sun - it's your eyes at stake!
Eclipses
An eclipse is when the moon passes between the earth and the sun and briefly blocks the sun, allowing fainter features of its upper atmosphere to be seen.
Unfortunately eclipses are very rare as they rely on this precise alignment of the sun and moon, and that they are almost the same size in the earth's sky.
An eclipse only lasts a matter of minutes, and isn't always a total eclipse. If the alignment is out the moon may be at the outer limit of its orbit, and would appear too small to block the sun completely. This is known as an annular eclipse.
The next total eclipse to be seen in mainland UK will be 23rd September 2090, so probably wont be seen by most in this lifetime. If you are willing to travel to see this marvel there will be opportunities well before this date.
Missions
There have been a few 'missions' to the sun in the past, as recently as 11th Feb 2010.
SOHO (The International Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) was launched on 2nd Dec 1995 and has been keeping an eye on the Sun. A team of people just watch the website and are able to warn about coronal mass ejections that could disrupt communications, and have also discovered dozens of comets, many of which are destroyed by the Sun's powerful gravity and energy.
The official site for SOHO can be found here.
SDO ( The Solar Dynamics Observatory) was launched on 11th Feb 2010. This was sent to study the influence of the Sun on Earth and will determine if it is possible to make reliable space weather forecasts.
The official site for SDO can be found here.
Other notable missions include ACRIMSat and IBEX.
So here we begin our insight into the The Solar System. I will be working my way out from the centre and tackling the planets in order. So that would make the next stop of our journey Mercury. The least explored planet in our solar system.
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