Bright sunlight is a source of great mood and cheerfulness. In cloudy weather, many people feel depressed, succumb to depression. Despite this, everyone knows that the bad weather will end soon and the sun will appear in the sky. It has been familiar to people since childhood, and few people think about what this luminary is. The most famous information about the Sun is that it is a star. However, there are many more interesting facts that may be of interest to both children and adults.
What is the Sun?
Now everyone knows that the Sun is a star, not a huge luminous ball resembling a planet. It is a cloud of gases with a core inside. The main component of this star is hydrogen, which occupies about 92% of its total volume. Approximately 7% is accounted for by helium, and the remaining percentage is divided among other elements. These include iron, oxygen, nickel, silicon, sulfur and others.
Most of a star's energy comes from the fusion of helium from hydrogen. Information about the Sun, collected by scientists, allows us to attribute it to the G2V type according to the spectral classification. This type is called a "yellow dwarf". WhereinThe sun, contrary to popular belief, shines with white light. The yellow glow appears as a result of scattering and absorption by the atmosphere of our planet of the short-wavelength part of the spectrum of its rays. Our luminary - the Sun - is an integral part of the Milky Way galaxy. From its center, the star is located at a distance of 26,000 light years, and one revolution around it takes 225-250 million years.
Solar radiation
The sun and the Earth are separated by a distance of 149,600 thousand km. Despite this, solar radiation is the main source of energy on the planet. Not all of its volume passes through the Earth's atmosphere. The energy of the Sun is used by plants in the process of photosynthesis. In this way, various organic compounds are formed and oxygen is released. Solar radiation is also used to generate electricity. Even the energy of peat reserves and other minerals appeared in ancient times under the influence of the rays of this bright star. The ultraviolet radiation of the Sun deserves special attention. It has antiseptic properties and can be used to disinfect water. UV radiation also affects the biological processes in the human body, causing the appearance of a tan on the skin, as well as the production of vitamin D.
Life Cycle of the Sun
Our luminary - the Sun - is a young star belonging to the third generation. It contains a large amount of metals, which indicates its formation from other stars of previous generations. According to scientists,The sun is about 4.57 billion years old. Given that the life cycle of a star is 10 billion years, it is now in the middle of it. At this stage, thermonuclear fusion of helium from hydrogen occurs in the core of the Sun. Gradually, the amount of hydrogen will decrease, the star will be more and more hot, and its luminosity will be higher. Then the hydrogen reserves in the core will run out completely, part of it will pass into the outer shell of the Sun, and helium will begin to condense. The processes of star extinction will continue for billions of years, but still lead to its transformation first into a red giant, then into a white dwarf.
Sun and Earth
Life on our planet will also depend on the degree of solar radiation. In about 1 billion years, it will be so strong that the surface of the Earth will heat up significantly and become unsuitable for most life forms, they can only remain in the depths of the oceans and in the polar latitudes. By the age of the Sun at about 8 billion years, the conditions on the planet will be close to those that are now on Venus. There will be no water at all, it will all evaporate into space. This will lead to the complete disappearance of all forms of life. As the core of the Sun contracts and its outer shell increases, the probability of absorption of our planet by the outer layers of the star's plasma will increase. This will not happen only if the Earth rotates around the Sun at a greater distance as a result of a transition to another orbit.
Magnetic field
Information aboutThe sun collected by the researchers indicates that it is a magnetically active star. The magnetic field it creates changes its direction every 11 years. Its intensity also varies over time. All these transformations are called solar activity, which is characterized by special phenomena, such as sunspots, wind, flares. They are the cause of aurora and geomagnetic storms, which adversely affect the operation of some devices on Earth, the well-being of people.
Solar eclipses
Information about the Sun, collected by the ancestors and survived to this day, contains references to its eclipses since antiquity. A large number of them are also described in the Middle Ages. A solar eclipse is the result of the obscuration of a star by the Moon from an observer on Earth. It can be complete, when at least from one point of our planet the solar disk is completely hidden, and partial. There are usually two to five eclipses per year. At a certain point on the Earth, they occur with a time difference of 200-300 years. Fans of viewing the sky, the Sun can also see an annular eclipse. The moon covers the disk of the star, but due to its smaller diameter, it cannot completely outshine it. As a result, a "fiery" ring remains visible.
It is worth remembering that observing the Sun with the naked eye, especially with binoculars or a telescope, is very dangerous. This can lead to permanent visual impairment. The sun is relatively close to the surface of our planet andshines very brightly. Without a threat to eye he alth, you can look at it only during sunrises and sunsets. The rest of the time, you need to use special darkening filters or project an image obtained with a telescope onto a white screen. This is the most acceptable way.
