Sun

The sun was formed by a bunch of gas swirling about in space getting caught up in their own gravity. They started swirling fasting and faster and clumping more and more until gravity crushed all this gas together to form this large mass. The gas inside was so hot, the particles were colliding with each other and releasing massive amounts of energy, that eventually the gravity compressed it so much that it reached what is called critical mass, which allowed it to start an atomic chain reaction, very similar to a nuclear bomb. The explosions release alot of energy.

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It is believed that the sun formed from a big cloud of gas and dust. The cloud was dark and cold, and its gravity caused it to fall together. The gas that collected at the center got hot from all the other gas falling on it. When nearly all the gas and dust had fallen together, the center became very hot and very dense our sun. Some of the leftover gas and dust going in orbit around this baby sun became the planets. 9 major planets orbit the sun. The sun started out as a large collapsing cloud of gas inside some ancient interstellar cloud. It took 10 million years to form the sun. The suns diameter is 870,000 miles wide. The sun is 109 times wider than the earth. The temperature of the photosphere is 10,000°F The temperature at the core of the sun is 27,000,000°F The sun rotates once every 27 days The mass of the sun is 1,989,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg The distance from the Earth to the sun is 149,597,900 km  The sun was formed 5 billion years ago. The energy for the sun comes from protons that are converted into helium atoms. 600 million protons are converted into helium atoms every second. In about 6 billion years the sun’s core will run out of hydrogen. The sun is 330,000 times heavier than the earth. The sun contains 99% of the mass of the solar system The sun is traveling in our solar system at a speed of 70,000 kilometers per hour. It takes 8.3 minutes for the light from the sun to reach the earth.

In 1.1 billion years, the sun will be 10% brighter than it currently is.

In about 3.5 billion years, the sun will be 40% brighter than it currently is.

The sun will also be so hot, that it will cause the ocean to begin to boil.

The earth will eventually resemble Venus, which is very dry and hot, because of the temperature of the sun.

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 * The sun is the closest star to earth
 * The sun rotates once every 27 days
 * Sun will shine for 5 billion more years
 * The sun’s surface is 10,000 degrees F
 * The temperature of the core is 27 million degrees F
 * Suns diameter is 870,000 miles wide
 * Sun is 109 times wider than Earth
 * The sun is approximately 25,000 light-years from the galactic core of our galaxy
 * The sun is made of 92% hydrogen, and 7% helium and the rest is other lower number of gases
 * The sun can burn over seven million tons of natural gas every second
 * The sun gives the moon light

- 1 million earths can fit inside the sun - There are dark spots on the suns surface these are cooler areas on the sun there called sunspots - The center of the sun is helium - All substances are invisible that are made by the sun - The sun is about 150 million km from the earth - A photosphere is the surface of the sun - The sun spins around once every 27.4 days - The core of the sun is 15 million degrees Celsius - The coolest part of the sun is nearly 6,000 degree Celsius - Mass of sun is 2 trillion trillion trillion tons - Each second the sun loses 5 million tons of material The age of sun is 4.57 billion years

Josh


 * Today’s Sun**


 * Age: || 4.55 Billion Years ||
 * Mass: || 1 Msun = 1.99x1033 g ||
 * Radius: || 1 Rsun = 700,000 km ||
 * Luminosity: || 1 Lsun = 3.83x1026 Watts ||
 * Temperature: || 5779 K ||
 * Fuel Supply: || 50% of the core Hydrogen has been consumed. ||


 * “Quiet Adulthood”**


 * grows slightly larger
 * gets slightly brighter
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">temperature gets slightly hotter then slightly cooler.


 * “Mid-Life crisis for the Earth”**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Sun will be 10% brighter than today.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Extra solar energy causes a Moist Greenhouse Effect.


 * “Venus on Earth”**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Sun will be 40% brighter than today.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Extra solar energy results in a Runaway Greenhouse Effect


 * “Core Hydrogen Exhaustion”**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">At an age of about 10.9 Gyr:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">When this occurs, the sun will:


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The sun's core runs out of Hydrogen
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The inert Helium ash that has built up steadily in the core over the last 11 Gyr becomes unstable and starts to collapse under its own weight. This causes the core to heat up and get denser.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The last remaining regions of Hydrogen fusion get moved out into a thin shell surrounding the collapsing Helium core.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Grow a little Bigger: 1.58 Rsun
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Gets a little Brighter: 2.21 Lsun


 * “Living old age”**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Slow evolution over the next 700 Myr:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">At T=11.6 Gyr, the sun becomes a Subgiant star.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Brightness stays about constant at 2.2 Lsun
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Grows in radius from 1.6 to 2.3 Rsun
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Cools from 5517 down to 4902 K


 * “Red Giant Phase”**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">This growth of the Sun (with accompanying mass loss from a strong stellar wind) continues as the Sun evolves into a Red Giant Star


 * “The Helium Flash”**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Helium fuses into Carbon & Oxygen, releasing energy, although not as efficiently as Hydrogen fusion into Helium before.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Hydrogen is still fuses into Helium in a thin shell surrounding the fusing Helium core, but it contributes only a small fraction of the total energy being generated.


 * “Helium Burning Phase”**

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif';">The Sun, with a new source of nuclear energy, settles down for a period of stability as a Helium Burning Star


 * “An all too brief retirement”**

The Sun burns He to C&O in its core for 110 Myr. As it consumes Helium, C & O ash begins to collect in the core as before, forcing small changes to the Sun's internal structure. The accommodation of this new structure leads to outward changes in the Sun


 * “Helium Core Exhaustion”**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The Sun's core finally runs out of Helium:


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The C-O ash core begins to collapse rapidly
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This shoves the Helium & Hydrogen fusion regions that remain out into thin shells surrounding the collapsing C-O core.


 * “Second Red Giant Phase”**

The Sun experiences very rapid growth over 20 Million years. As it grows, stellar wind gets stronger as the outer portions of the Sun's atmosphere begin to evaporate away into space.


 * “Rapid Mass Loss”**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Mass loss proceeds rapidly during the second Giant Branch phase.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Eventually, almost 46% of the Sun <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">’ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">s original mass will be lost.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The remaining planets move further outward in response to the reduced central mass of the Sun:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This is just enough to keep them from being engulfed by the swelling Sun.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Venus at 1.22 AU
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Earth at 1.69 AU


 * “The tremors of old age”**

Deep inside the Sun, the thin Helium burning shell riding on top of the inert C-O ash core becomes unstable. This instability takes the form of rapid swings in the nuclear reaction rate which is phenomenally sensitive to small changes in the temperature of the gas


 * “Envelope Ejection”**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The 4th and Final pulse blows off the last of the envelope over about 100,000 years.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The hot inner C-O core of the Sun is unveiled:


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Size is about the size of the Earth
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Temperature starts out at 120,000K, but then cools off as it loses heat to surrounding space (it has no fusion energy source of its own to make up for the heat losses).
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Brightness starts at about 3500 Lsun, then fades rapidly as it cools off.


 * “Planetary Nebula phase”**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">UV photons from the hot naked core ionize and illuminate the ejected envelope.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This gas lights up as a spectacular Planetary Nebula
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The glowing envelope of gas expands and disperses in 10,000 years.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Thus the last reward of the Sun for all of the other tribulations at the end of its relatively long life is to enjoy a last, brief flowering as one of the most beautiful and colorful objects in the heavens


 * “The final Configuration”**

Turns into a white dwarf


 * “The seven ages of the sun”**


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Hydrogen Burning Phase: || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">11 Gyr ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">First Red Giant Phase: || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">1.3 Gyr ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Helium Burning Phase: || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">100 Myr ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Second Red Giant Phase: || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">20 Myr ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Unstable Pulsation Phase: || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">400,000 yr ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Planetary Nebula Phase: || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">10,000 yr ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">White Dwarf Phase: || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">forever... ||


 * http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Lectures/vistas97.html**

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[] - solar flare information

We study the sun from numerous telescopes on earth. We use varieties of telescopes. To study the photosphere we use a white-light telescope. To study the chromosphere, light is in the Ultra-violet part of the electromagnetic spectrum and special telescopes are used which are sensitive to these wavelengths.
 * Solar Interior
 * The interior of the sun is to dense to be seen
 * Scientist use a method known as helioseismology the probe the sun
 * Helioseismologists listen to the music of the Sun by studying sound waves which bounce around inside.
 * Photosphere
 * The photosphere was the first part of the Sun to be studied as it can be seen in white light, the same light that we detect with our eyes.
 * Chromosphere
 * The temperature of the chromosphere is higher than the photosphere and can be observed by light emitted from ionized Helium.
 * Corona
 * The corona is the hottest part of the solar atmosphere and needs to be viewed in the hottest and most energetic end of the electromagnetic spectrum.

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[] - solar flare information

The sun’s atmosphere is known as “The Corona” When we view the sun, we normally only see the photosphere.

[] - sun compared to other stars

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The biggest stars are more than 100 times as massive as the Sun, and the smallest stars are less than 1/10th as massive as the Sun. The largest star, Mu Cephei is so large you could fit over one billion of our Suns inside of it Light from the Sun takes about eight minutes to reach Earth, but the light from the next nearest star takes a several years to reach us.

The sun is 109 times larger than the Earth in diameter. The sun is tiny compared to Arturus.

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Nick Janssen [] What if the sun had a massive solar flare?

There have been many massive solar flares in the sun’s history. The most massive solar flare occurred in 2003 it measured X 18 on the Solar flare scale a cluster of other X flare explosions within a matter of days made this one of the greatest periods of Solar activity on record. A while ago, a Russian study confirmed that solar eruptions do result in a greatly increased incidence of strokes and heart attacks. This can also affect us emotionally; we can get fluctuating feelings that at worst can result in broken relationships, despair and depression. On a larger scale this research shows that solar activity has the potential to trigger social unrest even to the point of inciting wars, riots, revolutions, and a deteriorating state of International harmony. Some minor effects of solar flares are bad cell phone reception; also anything that connects to a satellite has problems. Long term effects are not easy to categorize but effects can be weather patterns and greatly increased risk of earthquakes and volcanic eruption in vulnerable locations. So, we would not die but other things would hurt us. Not all of this stuff would happen most likely but these are possible effects of a solar flare.

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