Every week, TecMundo and #AstroMiniBR bring together the best astronomical curiosities produced by the world’s collaborators. twitter profile to spread the knowledge of this science, which is the oldest!
#1: How big is the sun?
The sun is the main and largest object in our Solar System, but how big is it? Compared to the world, it’s huge! The Sun contains 99.86% of all the mass in the entire Solar System and is approximately 1,391 thousand kilometers in diameter: about 109 times the diameter of the Earth!
kneaded Sun It is about 333,000 times larger than Earth, and its volume is so large that about 1,300,000 planet Earths could fit inside it.. But no matter how big the Sun is, it’s not exactly special when you magnify it and compare it to other stars in the Milky Way. The Sun is classified as a G-type main sequence star or G dwarf star or yellow dwarf.
In fact, the sun, like other G-type stars, is white, but appears yellow in Earth’s atmosphere. In star parameters this equals an average height. For example, Betelgeuse, a red giant located about 540 light-years away in the constellation of Orion, is about 700 times larger and 14,000 times brighter than the Sun.
#2: You are big but not thick!
Now that we’re talking about our king star, we have another curiosity: The Sun is large, but its average density is lower than Earth’s. However, the solar intensity is not uniform and increases as it gets closer to the core. Due to the enormous amount of gravitational compression from all the layers above it, the core is very hot and dense.
The nuclear fusion that keeps the Sun “alive” requires extremely high temperatures and densities. The temperature of the Sun’s core is about 16 million degrees and its density is about 160 grams per cubic centimeter. As the other upper layers become less and less dense until they reach the surface, the average value of solar intensity drops to just 1.4 grams per cubic centimeter; this is a slightly higher value than the density of water.
#3: Different tendencies of the planets
When we examine the above image, we can see that the tilt angle of the rotation axes of each planet is different and different from the others. This is because, in the early stages of the Solar System’s formation, the formed planets began to condense and rotate into large clouds of gas and dust that were attracted to each other by gravitational collapse.
At first, the orbits and rotational axes of all protoplanetary were aligned with those of the proto-Sun. But as they continued to grow, they grew large enough to begin to attract each other and collide with larger objects. These collisions eventually disrupted the rotational axis of these protoplanetaries.especially collisions between bodies of similar rotational speed and mass, and produced the different angles of inclination we see today.
#4: VY Canis Majoris, one of the biggest stars out there!
The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris (much bigger, bigger, and more violent than the aforementioned Betelgeuse) is one of the largest stars ever discovered in the Universe! Located in the Canis Major constellation, this star is a true cosmic titan: It would be possible to place at least 1,500 suns in a row on the face of VY Canis Majoris.Thanks to its huge diameter, which exceeds 2 billion kilometers.
The star is surrounded by a self-oscillating layer of gas and plasma that forms loops, arcs, and in massive explosions that hurl its material at high speeds and in all directions. These eruptions have been going on for at least 1,000 years and become more frequent as Canis Majoris nears the end of its life.
#5: Star nurseries!
How are stars born? The answer is in the images above. All show nebulae, large clouds of dust and gas scattered throughout the galaxy. The turbulence within these clouds creates regions of sufficient mass that gas and dust can begin to collapse under their own gravity.
As the cloud collapses, the material at the center begins to heat up through nuclear fusion. At this stage of stellar life, bright core known as protostar will continue to evolve through gas accumulation until it becomes a star. Nebulae like the ones shown above can form hundreds to tens of thousands of stars!
Source: Tec Mundo
I’m Blaine Morgan, an experienced journalist and writer with over 8 years of experience in the tech industry. My expertise lies in writing about technology news and trends, covering everything from cutting-edge gadgets to emerging software developments. I’ve written for several leading publications including Gadget Onus where I am an author.
