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10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know - Science/Technology - Nairaland

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10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 12:57pm On Dec 07, 2015
[b]As Earth based life forms we all open our eyes to get familiar with the G-type star that hosts our planet which we know as the Sun.

It provides an enormous amount of energy and support that it is not a joke that we would not be here without it..

Let us quickly run through 10 basic facts about our dear giant ball of Gas and perhaps get to know it a little bit better.


[size=20]1.[/size]THE SUN IS WHITE..

What shocked Yeah some of you might find this unusual judging with the fact that we all see this Star and we know the color it shows us right?

Seriously, it is even referred to as a yellow dwarf sometimes by the Astronomical body..

But in actuality Our sun is not yellow but white, its an average star that appear white in color ..

Light travels in a spectrum of distinct colors (All colors actually).. White is not a color but the combination of all colors or put it in a more correct way.. WHITE is the source of all other colors..

so when this light from our sun hits the earth the earth's atmosphere scatter the light from the sun. The blue wavelength of light is scattered in the atmosphere giving our sky a blue color But the sky is actually colorless except for clouds

The yellow wavelength are longer light wavelengths and so are more visible from the earth's surface giving the Sun a yellowish color from the surface.

The atmosphere is also the reason why the stars far from us appear to be twinkling when we see then at night..

Picture: An Astronaut on a space walk selfie with the white sun and earth in the back ground.. [/b]

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by Nobody: 1:09pm On Dec 07, 2015
Even the clouds are colorless . . . in the same way a waterfall is colorless. grin

first to comment on johnydon22's thread. this one na dream come true. cool

As if by Ironic co incidence, the sun is actually Pitch BLACK. even BLACKER than space.

This is because the sun is a black body. it doesn't reflect light. it rather absorbs it. the light we see from the sun comes from a very thin layer of the sun called the chromosphere. That is the only part that is cold enough to emit light within the visible spectrum. if you remove this layer, the sun will appear as a black hole.

so much wasted energy to create light tho. lipsrsealed

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 1:12pm On Dec 07, 2015
Teempakguy:
Even the clouds are colorless . . . in the same way a waterfall is colorless. grin
And snow too

grin
Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 1:18pm On Dec 07, 2015
[size=20]2.[/size]The sun rotates

No No not like an average planet out there, but yes the Sun rotates too..

The sun is a ball of Gas and so is not expected to rotate like most planets that are most times solid.

It rotates at different intervals on distinct latitudinal lines across it... Faster on the equator and slower at the poles..

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by hahn(m): 1:49pm On Dec 07, 2015
Interesting. Lalasticlala do the needful

Password: Tonto Dike

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by ichommy(m): 2:35pm On Dec 07, 2015
Awesome well done johnydon22

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 2:48pm On Dec 07, 2015
[b] [size=20]3.[/size] The sun is 4.6 billion years old


Yeah judging from life spans of Stars, we could say our sun is still a middle aged vibrant young lady..

Approximately 4.6 billion years old it will take up to about 5billion years old for it to exhaust it's hydrogen supply and therefore begin it's dying process.

Our sun as an average star will die in a slow and very treacherous way.. Now it has an abundant supply of hydrogen to maintain nuclear fusion in it's core which provides all the energy.

Hydrogen+hydrogen---> helium.

when this hydrogen supply runs out, it will start fusing helium atom to make heavier elements.

Helium + Helium -----> Iron, oxygen, Carbon.

at this stage it turns into what we know as a Red giant.. Gets cooler but larger and appear bright yellowish-red.

And that stage Mercury and Venus are goners and the earth will be as close to the sun as mercury..

then slowly and painfully shed off it's materials into outer space and collapse into a white dwarf about the size of earth ...

for more stars more massive than the sun, their death comes in a more rather violent manner. a stupendous explosion called supernova..

so any living thing on earth by that time is roasted!!! grin

Naaah don't worry, 5billion years is enough time to get dead. so it's not happening any time soonwink..

[/b]

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by ichommy(m): 3:01pm On Dec 07, 2015
grin
hahn:
Interesting. Lalasticlala do the needful
Password: Tonto Dike

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by Blakjewelry(m): 5:10pm On Dec 07, 2015
Cool. its strange though even stars were born and they will eventually die too, but at least their birth and death has a contributory effect on life. For without the dead of stars there is no other way heavier elements would have been created.

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 5:24pm On Dec 07, 2015
[size=20]4.[/size] ENERGY

The sun is the primary source of energy on earth, influences the change in the earth's climate, temperature, hydrogen circle, oxygen production (photosynthesis)

Without the sun one can assert that life could never have emerged on earth..

Amount of energy that hits the earth from the sun is 1.336 kw per square meter.. the energy the sun gives out mostly is luminous that is 3.8 × 1026 joules per second.

We are only using 1 out of 10,000 energy provided by the sun for us. . . Such enormous energy..

The solar panels we have now on earth can only convert 16% of the energy it gets into electricity, imagine what 50% could do for us..

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 5:55pm On Dec 07, 2015
[b][size=20]5.[/size] Closest neighbour

We see them at night twinkling and beaming down on us, little dots of lights lost in the dark blue of the night sky.

In our mind we couldn't have imagined just how far and far away these little lights were from us. We couldn't fathom that most of the little stars we see in the night sky were by far larger, denser and hotter than our sun.

Our sun is one out of billions of others in our home galaxy the milky way galaxy..

In the interstellar neighbourhood the closest star system to our own solar system is the Alpha centauri.

The alpha centauri is 4.3light years away from us, this means it will take light (which is the fastest thing we know) 4 years to travel that distance.

Alpha centauri is a triple star system with Two average stars Alpha centauri A and B and a smaller red dwarf Alpha centauri C.

1 light year is approximately 9trillion kilometers in earth's standard of measurement.

N.B: It takes light approximately 8 minutes to travel from the sun to earth..

[/b]

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 6:30pm On Dec 07, 2015
[size=20]6.[/size] Distance

The distance of the earth from the sun is not constant, it changes slightest on the course of the earth's orbit around the sun.

The earth has an elliptical orbit around the sun; Meaning the orbit is not perfectly or evenly circle around the sun but some points are nearer than others.

The earth is closest to the sun at approximate 91million miles away and approximately 95million miles in it's farthest point..

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 6:48pm On Dec 07, 2015
[size=20]7.[/size]Dark spots

There are temporal phenomenon that appear to be very dark on the sun's photosphere in contrast to every other part of the sun. .

These dark spots are called Sun Spots.

And are caused by concentration of magnetic flux on that given region giving rise to decrease in temperature from every other point and so appears dark.

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 7:18pm On Dec 07, 2015
[size=20]8.[/size] Atmosphere

The sun has an atmosphere of three main layers.

Photosphere: The light engine where the light from the sun comes from.. the temperature here is around 5,800°c

Chromosphere : The next layer after the photosphere, the temperature here increases to about 20,000°c and it emits light with more red on it. during a total solar eclipse you can this part as bordering red ends around the dark moon..

Corona: Corona is the outer plasma around the sun, it gets even hotter here around 1-2 million °c.

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 8:25pm On Dec 07, 2015
[size=20]9.[/size] Size

Well you can guess this one, the sun is huge!!!!!!!!! The earth is almost like a dot compare the the size of this star.

Its 1.3million km in diameter.. if you could fit the earth into the sun you can fit 1,300,000 earths into the sun..



But wait up with that size the sun can easily pass to be one of the biggest object you may know but just hold up a bit grin

the sun turns into a dot compared to some other stars ..

When you compare the sun to one of the largest star in the universe CANIS MAJORIS.. The sun turns into a dot..

Canis majoris compared to the sun..

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by Feraz(m): 9:23pm On Dec 07, 2015
hahn:
Interesting. Lalasticlala do the needful

Password: Tonto Dike
You've killed it! grin

johnydon22:
[size=20]9.[/size] Size
Well you can guess this one, the sun is huge!!!!!!!!! The earth is almost like a dot compare the the size of this star.
Its 1.3million km in diameter.. if you could fit the earth into the sun you can fit 1,300,000 earths into the sun..

But wait up with that size the sun can easily pass to be one of the biggest object you may know but just hold up a bit grin
the sun turns into a dot compared to some other stars ..
When you compare the sun to the largest star in the universe CANIS MAJORIS.. The sun turns into a dot..
Canis majoris compared to the sun..
I've always wondered how the sun is compared to other big stars and the picture depicting that just explained it.

Edit: The blue coloured, what about the UY Scuti? It is said to be larger than Canis Majoris.

johnydon22:
[size=20]4.[/size] ENERGY
The sun is the primary source of energy on earth, influences the change in the earth's climate, temperature, hydrogen circle, oxygen production (photosynthesis)
Without the sun one can assert that life could never have emerged on earth..
Amount of energy that hits the earth from the sun is 1.336 kw per square meter.. the energy the sun gives out mostly is luminous that is 3.8 × 1026 joules per second.
We are only using 1 out of 10,000 energy provided by the sun for us. . . Such enormous energy..
The solar panels we have now on earth can only convert 16% of the energy it gets into electricity, imagine what 50% could do for us..
It is said that if we can harness 25% of the energy from the sun reaching us, we may solve all of our energy problems in this world.

Fascinating topic!

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by Nobody: 9:26pm On Dec 07, 2015
I guess our earth of a planet can't even be noticed by other terrestrial habitats of other galaxies and planets taking into consideration of our tiny statues.....


I taya for this world.

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 9:56pm On Dec 07, 2015
[b][size=20]10.[/size]Revolution

This is for the ones that think the sun is stationary... Well sorry but it is far from it..

Moons revolve around planets
Planets around stars
Stars around center of a galaxy
the galaxies orbit some bigger galaxies or in a dance of gravitational beat.

all matter in the universe goes on a jolly ride with the expansion of space time..

Our universe is constantly in motion.... Nothing is stagnant or stationary, there is always motion..

The sun is located in the milky way galaxy, in the Orion's arm of the galaxy which is one of the arms of the spiral galaxy..

Like every spiral galaxy, all the arms are swirling around the center of the galaxy.. Stars with planets, clouds and dust.

So our sun alongside with all the solar system is in orbit around the milky way galaxy..

the milky way galaxy is 100,000light years in diameter, the sun (solar system) is about 27,000 light years away from the galactic center.

so it takes about ±250 million years for the sun to complete one resolution around the galactic center.

So yes the sun is not stationary... Picture below: The single dot points where the sun and entire planetary system is in the whole milky way galaxy[/b]

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by Feraz(m): 10:20pm On Dec 07, 2015
johnydon22:
[b]As Earth based life forms we all open our eyes to get familiar with the G-type star that hosts our planet which we know as the Sun.
It provides an enormous amount of energy and support that it is not a joke that we would not be here without it..
Let us quickly run through 10 basic facts about our dear giant ball of Gas and perhaps get to know it a little bit better.
[size=20]1.[/size]THE SUN IS WHITE..
What shocked Yeah some of you might find this unusual judging with the fact that we all see this Star and we know the color it shows us right?
Seriously, it is even referred to as a yellow dwarf sometimes by the Astronomical body..
But in actuality Our sun is not yellow but white, its an average star that appear white in color ..
Light travels in a spectrum of distinct colors (All colors actually).. White is not a color but the combination of all colors or put it in a more correct way.. WHITE is the source of all other colors..
so when this light from our sun hits the earth the earth's atmosphere scatter the light from the sun. The blue wavelength of light is scattered in the atmosphere giving our sky a blue color But the sky is actually colorless except for clouds
The yellow wavelength are longer light wavelengths and so are more visible from the earth's surface giving the Sun a yellowish color from the surface.
The atmosphere is also the reason why the stars far from us appear to be twinkling when we see then at night..
Picture: An Astronaut on a space walk selfie with the white sun and earth in the back ground.. [/b]
Does anyone know if the mist/harmattan season somewhat has an effect of the colouration of the sun rays as seen from the earth?

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 10:25pm On Dec 07, 2015
Feraz:
Does anyone know if the mist/harmattan season somewhat has an effect of the colouration of the sun rays as seen from the earth?


Yes mostly the misty harmattan fog reveals the sun to be white and it even appears larger from here the earth's surface..mostly in the mornings
Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by Feraz(m): 10:29pm On Dec 07, 2015
johnydon22:


Yes mostly the misty harmattan fog reveals the sun to be white and it even appears larger from here the earth's surface..mostly in the mornings
I talk am. . . cheesy

Thanks. . .

johnydon22:
[size=20]2.[/size]The sun rotates
No No not like an average planet out there, but yes the Sun rotates too..
The sun is a ball of Gas and so is not expected to rotate like most planets that are most times solid.
It rotates at different intervals on distinct latitudinal lines across it... Faster on the equator and slower at the poles..
My brain may have to be opened up to 50 - 60% to feel the rotation of the earth and that of the sun (Lucy things). . . wink

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by surrogatesng: 10:30pm On Dec 07, 2015
interesting fact
Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by Jameselias: 10:32pm On Dec 07, 2015
Yet at quantum level all this things exist too.
Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 11:03am On Dec 08, 2015
Jameselias:
Yet at quantum level all this things exist too.
Expatiate
Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by Gluthatione: 11:58am On Dec 08, 2015
amazing! this what we need on d front page not all the trash our mods are posting.

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by ValentineMary(m): 1:28pm On Dec 08, 2015
Johnny thanks for the lecture. Am a big fan of space physics.

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by Nobody: 1:34pm On Dec 08, 2015
Lalasticlala, will we beg? And if this is a tiwa savage thread, it will hit fp faster than you can say "mumu".




Wait sef, who is the Science and Technology mod The nigga is always on ghost mode!angryangryangry







I have said my piece, now you can ban me.

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Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by samsard(m): 4:23pm On Dec 08, 2015
Jameselias:
Yet at quantum level all this things exist too.
Are you saying there are galaxies, stars and planets in the quantum world/realm?
Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 6:28pm On Dec 08, 2015
SirWere:
Lalasticlala, will we beg? And if this is a tiwa savage thread, it will hit fp faster than you can say "mumu".

Wait sef, who is the Science and Technology mod The nigga is always on ghost mode!angryangryangry

I have said my piece, now you can ban me.
Lol abeg no vex lets hope the mods will do the needful though and lets hope Seun will fix our science section and give the science section more attention

1 Like

Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by johnydon22(m): 4:40pm On Dec 10, 2015
Feraz:
I talk am. . . cheesy

Thanks. . .

My brain may have to be opened up to 50 - 60% to feel the rotation of the earth and that of the sun (Lucy things). . . wink
Hahahaha
Re: 10 Facts About The Sun You Probably Didn't Know by Feraz(m): 8:29pm On Dec 10, 2015
Jameselias:
Yet at quantum level all this things exist too.
Can you explain?

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