Our Sun

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

Solstice, Full Moon w/ Planets

The yearly posting of Sun & Sky: the summer solstice will occur at 6:34 EDT this evening and like last year, two gas giant planets, slowly orbiting the sun in the outer reaches of our solar system, are in the sky. The moon and inner planets move on a much different time scale and while Venus was dancing with Jupiter last year the king is alone this year while the bright goddess of love planet is behind the sun from our view on Earth. Jupiter is still in Leo but farther east than last year and still bold and bright in the west at dusk. The ringed gas ball that is Saturn is much deeper in Scorpio than last year and has brilliant red Mars (which is actually in Libra- still Scorpio in pre-Roman times) as company this year. The two planets made a lovely triangle with the gibbous moon a couple of nights ago and tonight will be followed across the sky by the full moon of June. With the shortest night of the solstice and the bright Full moon only the planets and brightest stars will be out tonight.
Check out Antares, the heart of Scorpio and the point of a downward pointing triangle with Mars and Saturn. Antares means rival of Mars and the star is a red giant and similar in color and brightness to Mars - it's rival - but the 4th planet is much brighter than its rival in its current location, directly behind and closer than normal to Earth. Other stars out tonight will be the bright seven of the Big Dipper; Polaris, the north star pointed out following the two stars that make up the end of the dipper; Regulus, follow the dipper pointer stars away from Polaris; Arcturus found by following the Arc of the dipper handle to it's spot high above Jupiter and Spica, spike straight down from Arcturus to spot Virgo's brightest star.  The Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair will be rising in the northeast after dark.
There will be a few other stars out tonight but the moon will wash out the dimmer ones and it's the Summer Solstice and with our planet tipped as far toward our local star it's a short, bright night. Summer time has short nights because with the planet tipped so far over the sun's light shines over the top of the world; we only have night when the planet blocks the light, today it's not blocking much of that light. Get out and enjoy your day…and the little night there is, today on Earth.