First though the basis for our little chat: As Human beings we tend to look up to and expect food, shelter, warmth and love from our parents and from those who are bigger, older and wiser than us.
Sure, we go through times in our teenage years when we rebel against all forms of authority and offers of assistance from those older than ourselves but, for the most part, revert back to type when we become older and wiser.
What has this got to do with Solar Power?
Simple: In our universe we tend to forget the existence of a body comprising 99.8% of the system’s mass. A body so so vast and so powerful that it could destroy us in a millisecond – The SUN. Without the Sun’s intense energy, there would be no life on Earth.
The Sun gives energy freely whilst holding our universe together and for far too long now we have ignored it’s largess by burning, raping and destroying our own planet to a cinder.
The reason for this little diatribe is simple: Stop burning fossil fuel and turn to Solar Power to run your life.
The Sun is approximately 4.5 Billion years old, is around 26 000 light years away from galactic centre and it’s ‘year’ is equivalent to 230 million earth years.
More interesting facts about our Sun:
- If the Sun were as tall as a typical front door, Earth would be about the size of a nickel.?
- The Sun is the center of our solar system and makes up 99.8 percent of the mass of the entire solar system.
- At the equator, the Sun spins once about every 25 days, but at its poles the Sun rotates once on its axis every 35 Earth days.
- Even if you could stand the heat you couldn’t stand on the Sun – as a star, the Sun is a ball of gas (92.1 percent hydrogen and 7.8 percent helium) held together by its own gravity.
- The Sun does not have any rings.
- Many spacecraft constantly observe the Sun, helping us keep an eye on space weather that can affect satellites and astronauts.
- Energy For Life: Without the Sun’s intense energy, there would be no life on Earth.
- The Sun’s core is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius).
- The Sun has no moons but is orbited by eight planets, at least five dwarf planets, tens of thousands of asteroids, and up to three trillion comets and icy bodies.
- The Sun’s visible surface sometimes has dark sunspots, which are areas of intense magnetic activity that can lead to solar explosions.
Our Sun – the heart of our solar system – is a yellow dwarf star, a hot ball of glowing gases. Its gravity holds the solar system together, keeping everything from the biggest planets to the smallest particles of debris in its orbit. Electric currents in the Sun generate a magnetic field that is carried out through the solar system by the solar wind – a stream of electrically charged gas blowing outward from the Sun in all directions.
The Sun is the largest object in our solar system, comprising 99.8% of the system’s mass. Though it seems huge to us, the Sun isn’t as large as other types of stars.
Earth orbits the Sun from a distance of about 93 million miles. The connection and interactions between the Sun and Earth drive our planet’s seasons, ocean currents, weather, climate, radiation belts, and aurorae. Though it is special to us, there are billions of stars like our Sun scattered across the Milky Way galaxy.
Find out more at NASA’s web site: Solar System Exploration.
