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AIA red 2 (00194) |
by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr |
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Our Sun
- The Sun is made up of gas and dust that began to fall into its own force of gravity and ignite under pressure causing a nuclear fusion at 1 million degrees.
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The surface of the sun is 10,000 degrees.
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As it grew, the baby sun became hotter and hotter.
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Scientists say the sun was born through a vast cloud of dust around 5 billion years ago.
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The Sun is so large that the earth could easily fit inside the sun a million times
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'Sun' By Flower |
by Vincent van der Pas on Flickr |
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Like A Flower?
- There are spots in the sun that are slightly cooler then other spots. These are known as sun spots.
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The spots are slightly darker then other spots because they are cooler.
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People have to use special telescopes with filters and other things to be able to see the cooler spots on the surface of the Sun.
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Spots come and go, sometimes there are a lot and sometimes there are not.
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This happens over 11 years and it is called the Saros Cycle.
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Diamond ring on 22 Jul. 2009 |
by kubotake on Flickr |
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This Is called a Solar Eclipse - When the moon orbits in front of the sun, the sun and moon appear to be the same size and the sun appears to be blocked by the moon.
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NASA's SDO Captures a Monster Prominence |
by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr |
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Solar Flares - In times of high solar activity, the sun releases massive amounts of gas and plasma into its atmosphere.
- These flares can be really small or HUGE and have explosions like bombs.
- These flares can be so powerful that they can cause our satellites that go around our earth to not work right.
- They also create beautiful light shows known as Aurora Borealis.
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NASA Blue Marble |
by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr |
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Interesting facts.....
- The sun is 93 million miles away from the Earth.
- The sun is 389 times further away from the Earth than the moon.
- The sun is so hot that even an Astronaut can't even walk on it!
- You can NOT look into the sun because it will hurt your eyes.
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Glory |
by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr |
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A satellite that orbits our earth.
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