Photojournal Home Page Graphic 2009 Artist Concept (2009-07-07) by NASA/JPLNASA
The Center of the Solar System
Our star and the center of our Solar System is an active ball of hot plasma roughly 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from Earth, its enormous gravity acting as the glue that holds the Solar System together.
A Cauldron of Stars at the Galaxy Center (2006-01-10) by NASA/JPL-CaltechNASA
Cosmic Context
In the context of the universe, our Sun is fairly unremarkable. It is a medium-sized star about halfway through the stable phase of its life.
Earth Observations taken by the Expedition 13 crew (2006-09-05)NASA
While an average member of the more than 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy alone, it is the vital energy source for life on Earth.
Without it, life as we understand it would not exist.
Orion Nebula (2001-12-11/2005-04-30) by Hubble Space Telescope and ESO La Silla 2.2-meter TelescopeNASA
Formation
The Sun formed around 4.6 billion years ago from the collapse of the solar nebula — a giant cloud of gas and dust.
Portrait of Our Dusty Past Artist Concept (2005-12-20) by NASA/JPL-CaltechNASA
As the nebula compressed, mass concentrated toward the center while the remaining material flattened into a disk.
This central compressed material became our Sun — the largest object in our Solar System — while the leftovers formed the planets and other objects.
Sun Emits an X2.2 Flare on March 11, 2015 (2017-12-08)NASA
If hallowed out, the Sun could fit over 1.3 million Earths.
Tracing the Arms of our Milky Way Galaxy (2015-06-03) by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Federal University of Rio Grande do SulNASA
The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy from its home in the Orion Bridge — a spiral arm that extends outward from the Sagittarius arm.
Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared Light (2018-01-11) by NASA/ESA/STScINASA
SDO's Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit - 304 Angstrom (2017-12-08)NASA
The Sun contains 99.86% of the Solar System’s total mass, creating conditions so hot and dense at its core that hydrogen fuses into helium
LIFE Photo Collection
These nuclear reactions produce the Sun’s energy (heat and light) that eventually travels to the outer layers of the Sun via radiation.
The core is the hottest part of the Sun, with temperatures climbing to 27 million °F (15 million °C).
Filament Eruption Creates 'Canyon of Fire' on the Sun (2017-12-08)NASA
As radiation travels outward, it moves through various layers, advancing first to the radiative zone, followed by the convection zone— the outermost layer of the solar interior. Learn more about the Sun's anatomy here.
Jumpy Active Region (2017-01-03) by NASA/GSFC/Solar Dynamics ObservatoryNASA
It takes roughly 170,000 years for energy to journey from the core to the top of the convection zone.
Giant Sunspot Erupts on October 24, 2014 (2017-12-08)NASA
Like soup boiling in a pot, hot plasma bubbles up to the photosphere—the Sun’s “surface” that we see.
Planetary Photojournal Home Page Graphic (2004-09-30) by NASA/JPLNASA
The lowest visible layer of the Sun’s atmosphere, the photosphere, is over 250 miles thick and is the light sphere we observe with our eyes.
Light released in this region takes roughly 8 minutes to travel the ~93 million miles to Earth. Learn more about the photosphere here.
Blasting CME (2017-12-08)NASA
Above the photosphere is the atmosphere—a vast region stretching beyond every planet in our Solar System.
Some of the most dramatic solar activity we can observe occurs in the lower layers of the atmosphere. Check out a NASA mission exploring the Sun's atmosphere here.
Sun Emits a Mid-Level Flare (2017-12-08)NASA
One of the most impressive examples is a solar flare—sudden, powerful eruptions releasing energy akin to billions of hydrogen bombs.
They can appear suddenly, observable as powerful, bright ejections on the Sun, usually lasting several minutes. While sometimes noticeable in the visible spectrum, they are typically more apparent in bright X-ray and ultraviolet wavelengths. Learn about a recent flare here.
Our Milky Way Gets a Makeover Artist Concept (2008-06-03) by NASA/JPL-CaltechNASA
Within the Milky Way Galaxy, we sit on a planet spinning around the Sun — just one of the hundreds of billions of stars swirling within the galaxy’s arms. Learn more about our galaxy here.
Supersized Disk Artist Concept (2006-02-08) by Artist Concept: NASA/JPL-Caltech<br /> Graph: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of RochesterNASA
Viewing the cosmically ordinary ball of hydrogen and helium that makes our existence possible from our own Solar System, the Sun is an extraordinary object.
From its prevalence in world religions and culture to its definition of our day and night, the Sun’s significance on Earth is boundless.
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.