It's a pretty safe bet that if I didn't mention it,
you wouldn't give the sun a second thought today...
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How many years are left on sun? Best we can figure is about 5 billion years. Eventually, the fuel of the sun - hydrogen - will run out. When this happens, the sun will begin to die. But don't worry, this should not happen for about 5 billion years. After the hydrogen runs out, there will be a period of 2-3 billion years whereby the sun will go through the phases of star death.
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The Sun is a huge, glowing sphere of hot gas. Most of this gas is hydrogen (about 70%) and helium (about 28%). Carbon, nitrogen and oxygen make up 1.5% and the other 0.5% is made up of small amounts of many other elements such as neon, iron, silicon, magnesium and sulfur.
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The color of the sun is white. The sun emits all colors of the rainbow in approximately equal amounts and we call this combination "white". That is why we can see so many different colors in the natural world under the illumination of sunlight.
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The Sun burst into life around 4.6 billion years ago, which makes it the same age as the Solar System as a whole and around half a billion years older than the Earth. That's because, with a few exceptions, planetary systems such as our own Solar System do generally form at the same time.
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The Sun glows because it is a very big ball of gas, and a process called nuclear fusion is taking place in its core. Nuclear fusion occurs when one proton smashes into another proton so hard that they stick together and release some energy as well.
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Only 5 billion years left?
ReplyDeleteIn that case, fuck raking the leaves...
Au contraire, mon frere. I think about the sun every day because I have solar panels. No sun means no free power.
ReplyDeleteFive Billion years? I can imagine this can be delayed with some new taxes. 🤔😇🤣
ReplyDeletein Five Billion years, run. rum fast.
DeleteEach day I think often of the sun and time my evening walks to watch sunset. When clouds block them I miss the sun's direct rays, yet thank God that the sun's diffused light, even on rainy and snowy days, illumines the clouds. When I park my car with groceries aboard and I've more errands to run, I consider parking so that the car's roof shades the groceries (frozen foods are always bought at the last grocery stop). In summer I try to park in shade; in winter I try to park in a sunlit, sun-warmed spot. When I bought my two houses the first requirement was the orientation of the house to have the most direct sunlight brighten the kitchen and living room (and, when applicable, my office room), all other rooms that are mostly unoccupied during daylight waking hours don't need direct sunlight.
ReplyDeleteAs a side note, my question is this. If controlled fusion ever becomes viable will there be usable quantities of helium produced as a by product?
ReplyDelete