Ah, the sun. Its energy keeps the food chain going, provides us with power, and its great to play outside in the sunshine! However, there are some interesting facts about that star, so I’m going to share them with you.
1. The sun’s surface temperature is 10,000°F(6,000°C), and its core has a temperature of 27,000,000°F(15,000,000°C). Definitely something you don’t want to be enveloped in!
2. Sometimes, huge energy bursts explode from the photosphere(surface of the sun). These are called solar flares and prominences. Solar flares are short bursts of energy, while prominences look like giant arches that stretch 60,000 miles high and can last for months.
3. If you are KNOWING what I mean(get it?), the actual solar flare or prominence cannot reach the Earth. They don’t even make it to Mercury, meaning we don’t have to worry about something like what happened in The Maze Runner and its 2 sequels and prequel. However, another event occurs along with the solar flare called a coronal mass ejection(CME), which is a large burst of particles that spread all around space. These particles interact with the magnetosphere in the two poles, producing those beautiful auroras. However, a large burst would wipe out a good portion of the magnetosphere, shut off all our satellites, and destroy communications and electronics(read my EMP post for more).
4. The sun’s core turns hydrogen into helium in a process called nuclear fusion, courtesy of all that pressure caused by the other layers of the sun. Once all of its hydrogen is turned into helium, it starts fusing helium into heavier elements, and turns into a red giant in the process, and will swallow up Mercury, Venus, and potentially Earth(don’t worry, this will take 5 billion years). Once it runs out of helium, the sun will shed layers of matter in a special way, creating a planetary nebula with a white dwarf in the middle. Remember, the sun will not go nova!
Photo Credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center via Compfight