The sun is the heart of our solar system. It’s gravity holds everything from planets to stars in place. The sun, like other stars is a big ball of gas. The sun itself is 4.6 billion years old. The sun is 1.3 million times the size of the earth. One day the sun will completely engulf the earth. Don’t worry, it won’t happen for another 5 billion years or so.
Of course everyone knows it takes the earth 365 DAYS to travel around the sun. Well did you know it takes 250 million YEARS to make 1 revolution around the milky way galaxy? That makes our year look like nothing! Everyone loves a Gorgeous sunrise and sunset. Today the sun rose at 7:17 and it will set at 6:35 pm. It actually takes 8 minutes for the suns light to reach earth.
Most of the time the sun rises and it sets, but it actually has a very interesting historical past. The Solar Storm of 1859, or the Carrington Event, was a geomagnetic solar storm that occurred in the 10th solar cycle, leading to the largest geomagnetic storm on Earth in recorded history. The energy released by one solar flares is like the amount of energy set off from millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding all at once.
Posted by Earth Warriors
Posted by Earth Warriors
Geomagnetic storms and powergrid failures are fascinating and a bit alarming at the same time. Check out the images in this story. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3844720/Are-risk-solar-storms-Map-reveals-Minnesota-worst-hit-blasts-knock-power-millions.html
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