The earth was at one point considered to be the center of the universe; that was until the ancient astronomer Galileo proved that this was not so. In fact, the sun sits directly in the middle of our solar system.
At any given time there are nine planets along with their respective moons, a countless number of asteroids, and trillions of comets revolving around the giant star, the sun, which is made entirely of gas.
With a radius of four hundred thirty two thousand miles, the sun’s surface burns at fifty eight hundred Kelvin, while the core is at an astonishing fifteen million Kelvin. Such heat is created by two nuclear fusion reactions.
Nuclear fusion is the process through which two atomic nuclei mesh together to create a new nucleus. The fusion makes energy by transforming nuclear matter into energy.
The sun is magnetic. The area where the magnetic force can be felt is known as the magnetic field, and this is where the matter is shaped to create the sun’s features.
The sun possesses many features that not many people may be aware of. Interestingly, these features range from the cooler, dark areas known as sun spots, to the meanest eruptions of the solar system called flares.
You may also find the coronal mass ejections as the most flabbergasting. These ejections can relieve the sun of up to twenty billion tons of matter into space in just one eruption. All the same, they are still not as violent as the flares, and the sun will not always be this way.
The sun came to be approximately 4.6 billion years ago and has the capability to last about another five billion years.
The next stage in the sun’s life is when it turns into a “red giant” where it will shed its outer layers thus causing it to collapse and ultimately be demoted to a “white dwarf”. As it slowly starts to fade away, the earth’s once brilliant sun will be nothing but a cold faint star called a “black dwarf”.
Once this happens, you can only be left to wonder what will become of Earth…
If you were to compare the earth’s star with the others, you would find that there are less than five percent that are as bright and large as the sun. Of course some are upwards of one hundred times the sun’s mass and one hundred thousand times brighter.
On the flip side just 1/10,000 are as luminous and 7/100 share the sun’s massiveness. Evidently, life on earth gets to experience a true work of nature on a daily basis.
Although it is still five billion years away, the sun’s projected death may come as a depressing shock to you. It may seem that humans take this wonderful star for granted. Instead of complaining about how hot it is on the next summer day, rejoice in the fact that the sun is still in good health.
