The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma

interwoven with magnetic fields. It has a diameter of about 109 times that of Earth, and its mass accounts for about

99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System Chemically, about three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of

hydrogen, while the rest is mostly helium.

via scientificcomputing.com

A full-disk multiwavelength extreme ultraviolet image of the sun taken by SDO on March 30, 2010. False colors trace different gas temperatures. Reds are relatively cool (about 60,000 Kelvin, or 107,540 F); blues and greens are hotter (greater than 1 million Kelvin, or 1,799,540 F). Courtesy of NASA/GSFC/AIA.

Observe our Sun now thanks to NASA.

The Sun was formed about 4.57 billion years ago from the collapse of part of a giant molecular cloud that consisted

mostly of hydrogen and helium and which probably gave birth to many other stars. One or more supernovae must

have occurred near the location where the Sun formed. A shock wave from a nearby supernova would have

triggered the formation of the Sun by compressing the gases within the molecular cloud, and causing certain

regions to collapse under their own gravity. As one fragment of the cloud collapsed it also began to rotate due to

conservation of angular momentum and heat up with the increasing pressure. Much of the mass became

concentrated in the center, while the rest flattened out into a disk which would become the planets and other solar

system bodies. Gravity and pressure within the core of the cloud generated a lot of heat as it accreted more gas

from the surrounding disk, eventually triggering nuclear fusion. Thus, our Sun was born.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the moon, the sun, and the truth. Buddha.

Supernovae are a thing of beauty.

via upload.wikimedia.org Supernova remnant N 63A lies within a clumpy region of gas and dust in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

More after the jump.

The Sun's a yellow dwarf, because its visible radiation is most intense in the yellow-green portion of the spectrum and although its color is white, from the surface of the Earth it may appear yellow because of atmospheric scattering of blue light. It generates its energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium. In its core, the Sun fuses 620 million metric tons of hydrogen each second.

via upload.wikimedia.org

Once regarded by astronomers as a small and relatively insignificant star, the Sun is now thought to be brighter

than about 85% of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy, most of which are red dwarfs (the closest being a red dwarf

named Proxima Centauri at approximately 4.2 light-years away). The Sun is currently traveling through the Local

Interstellar Cloud in the Local Bubble zone, within the inner rim of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. The Sun

orbits the center of the Milky Way at a distance of approximately 24,000–26,000 light-years from the galactic center,

completing one clockwise orbit, as viewed from the galactic north pole, in about 225–250 million years.

via prof77.files.wordpress.com

The atom bombs are piling up in the factories, the police are prowling through the cities, the lies are

streaming from the loudspeakers, but the earth is still going round the sun. George Orwell.

Our sun is very dynamic and it changes constantly. It has the largest eruptions in the solar system. These eruptions

can be so large that they can reach our planet and cause serious damage by disrupting satellites and other

communication devices. Our TV may not work, our cell phones will be down, a high speed train may run loose and if

an astronaut happens to be on the moon at the time when the sun erupts, he or she would be in great danger.

NASA uses satellites such as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), to predict these eruptions so that

we have a warning of at least 2-3 days to protect our expensive communication devices during a solar eruption.

The sun is new each day. Heraclitus

The Sun is flinging 1 million tons of matter out into space every second! We call this material solar wind. Once the
solar wind is blown into space, the particles travel at supersonic speeds of 200-800 km/sec! These particles travel
all the way past Pluto and do not slow down until they reach the termination shock within the heliosphere. The
Heliosphere is the entire region of space influenced by the Sun.
The solar wind plasma is very thin. Near the Earth, the plasma is only about 6 particles per cubic centimeter. So,
even though the wind travels SUPER fast, it wouldn't even ruffle your hair if you were to stand in it because it's so
thin! But, it is responsible for such unusual things as: auroral lights; fueling magnetospheric storms; forming a
planet's magnetosphere. The particles of the solar wind, and the Sun's magnetic field (IMF) are stuck together,
therefore the solar wind carries the IMF (interplanetary magnetic field) with it into space.

Mysteries of the Sun: Solar variability (via MrAbkebab)

Sun Montage - SOHO NASA Solar Flare X-Flare Comet - PHJ - www.PHJ.ca (via TahitiPetey)

Big solar storm on January 23, 2012 seen by NASA's SOHO (via TheBadAstronomer)

The mean distance of the Sun from the Earth is approximately 149.6 million kilometers (1 AU), though the distance

varies as the Earth moves from perihelion in January to aphelion in July. At this average distance, light travels from

the Sun to Earth in about 8 minutes and 19 seconds. The energy of this sunlight supports almost all life on Earth by

photosynthesis, and drives Earth's climate and weather.

The English proper noun Sun developed from Old English sunne (around 725, attested in Beowulf), and may be

related to south. Cognates to English sun appear in other Germanic languages, all stem from Proto-Germanic

*sunnōn. The English weekday name Sunday is attested in Old English (Sunnandæg; "Sun's day", from before 700)

and is ultimately a result of a Germanic interpretation of Latin dies solis, itself a translation of the Greek heméra

helíou. The Latin name for the star, Sol, is widely known but is not common in general English language use; the

adjectival form is the related word solar.

Sunsets Around The World (via NoleeAimee)

People are like stained - glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness

sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Beautiful Sunrise and Sunsets (via CrnaLisica)

The insufferable arrogance of human beings to think that Nature was made solely for their benefit, as if it was

conceivable that the sun had been set afire merely to ripen men's apples and head their cabbages. Cyrano

de Bergerac.

Sunlight is Earth's primary source of energy. The solar constant is the amount of power that the Sun deposits per

unit area that is directly exposed to sunlight. The solar constant is equal to approximately 1,368 W/m2 (watts per

square meter) at a distance of one astronomical unit (AU) from the Sun (that is, on or near Earth). Sunlight on the

surface of Earth is attenuated by the Earth's atmosphere so that less power arrives at the surface—closer to 1,000

W/m2 in clear conditions when the Sun is near the zenith.

The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun. Ralph Nader

Solar energy can be harnessed by a variety of natural and synthetic processes—photosynthesis by plants captures

the energy of sunlight and converts it to chemical form (oxygen and reduced carbon compounds), while direct

heating or electrical conversion by solar cells are used by solar power equipment to generate electricity or to do

other useful work, sometimes employing concentrating solar power (that it is measured in suns). The energy

stored in petroleum and other fossil fuels was originally converted from sunlight by photosynthesis in the distant

past.

Mortimer´s vision of the Sun,

via http://thedailydoodles.tumblr.com/

Sunctity :

Like other natural phenomena, the Sun has been an object of veneration in many cultures throughout human

history. In many prehistoric and ancient cultures, the Sun was thought to be a solar deity or other supernatural

phenomenon. Worship of the Sun was central to civilizations such as the Inca of South America and the Aztecs of

what is now Mexico.

via pedi3deseos.files.wordpress.com

Mayan Calendar vs Aztec Sun Stone & December 21, 2012 (via PiPhD)

Many ancient monuments were constructed with solar phenomena in mind; for example, stone megaliths

accurately mark the summer or winter solstice (some of the most prominent megaliths are located in Nabta Playa,

Egypt; Mnajdra, Malta and at Stonehenge, England); Newgrange, a prehistoric human-built mount in Ireland, was

designed to detect the winter solstice; the pyramid of El Castillo at Chichén Itzá in Mexico is designed to cast

shadows in the shape of serpents climbing the pyramid at the vernal and autumn equinoxes.

Snake of light seen on the Great Pyramid of Kukulkan in Chichen Itza at autumn equinox, via farm1.static.flickr.com

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god. Napoleon Bonaparte

In the late Roman Empire the Sun's birthday was a holiday celebrated as Sol Invictus (literally "unconquered sun")

soon after the winter solstice which may have been an antecedent to Christmas.

How the Sun could get a scientist in trouble:

Greek philosopher Anaxagoras, who reasoned that it was a giant flaming ball of metal even larger than the

Peloponnesus rather than the chariot of Helios, and that the Moon reflected the light of the Sun. For teaching this

heresy, he was imprisoned by the authorities and sentenced to death. He was lucky Pericles was there and saved

him. Therefore, Galileo Galilei was not the first one to be in this kind of trouble, and the Inquisition was not invented

in Spain, where nobody expected it.

The first satellite designed to observe the Sun was NASA's Pioneer 5 , launched in 1959.

via upload.wikimedia.org

Sunsibility and health:

Skin cancer is caused primarily by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation – either from the sun or from artificial

sources such as sunbeds. Excessive sun exposure in children and adolescents is likely to contribute to skin

cancer in later life.

Worldwide approximately 18 million people are blind as a result of cataracts, of these 5% of all cataract related

disease burden is directly attributable to UV radiation exposure.

- Rob: Max, if we lived in California, we could play outdoors every day, in the sun.

- Alvy Singer: Sun is bad for you. Everything our parents said was good is bad. Sun, milk, red meat, college.

(Annie Hall script by Woody Allen)

There are also important health benefits attributed to a small daily dose of sunlight, including: boosts our mood,

improves sleep, promotes vitamin D production, protection from autoimmune diseases and lessening of

Alzheimer's symptoms.

This must my comfort be:

That sun that warms you here shall shine on me. (William Shakespeare )

Ultraviolet light from the Sun has antiseptic properties and can be used to sanitize tools and water.

Ultraviolet light is strongly attenuated by Earth's ozone layer, so that the amount of UV varies greatly with latitude and

has been partially responsible for many biological adaptations, including variations in human skin color in different

regions of the globe.

How the Sun can destroy you vision:

Looking directly at the Sun causes phosphene visual artifacts and temporary partial blindness. It also delivers

about 4 milliwatts of sunlight to the retina, slightly heating it and potentially causing damage in eyes that cannot

respond properly to the brightness. UV exposure gradually yellows the lens of the eye over a period of years and is

thought to contribute to the formation of cataracts, but this depends on general exposure to solar UV, not on whether

one looks directly at the Sun. Long-duration viewing of the direct Sun with the naked eye can begin to cause UV-

induced, sunburn-like lesions on the retina after about 100 seconds, particularly under conditions where the UV

light from the Sun is intense and well focused;[ conditions are worsened by young eyes or new lens implants

(which admit more UV than aging natural eyes), Sun angles near the zenith, and observing locations at high

altitude.

via amusingjokes.net

Partial solar eclipses are hazardous to view because the eye's pupil is not adapted to the unusually high visual

contrast: the pupil dilates according to the total amount of light in the field of view, not by the brightest object in the

field. During partial eclipses most sunlight is blocked by the Moon passing in front of the Sun, but the uncovered

parts of the photosphere have the same surface brightness as during a normal day. In the overall gloom, the pupil

expands from ~2 mm to ~6 mm, and each retinal cell exposed to the solar image receives about ten times more

light than it would looking at the non-eclipsed Sun. This can damage or kill those cells, resulting in small

permanent blind spots for the viewer. The hazard is insidious for inexperienced observers and for children,

because there is no perception of pain: it is not immediately obvious that one's vision is being destroyed.

Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye. Francois de La Rochefoucauld

The Solar Eclipse In Varanasi - Wonders of the Solar System - Series 1 Episode 1 Preview - BBC Two (via BBC)

How the Sun made a Nobel Prize:

Hans Bethe received the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physics for revealing how the Sun behaves like a giant nuclear reactor

to produce the vast amount of heat and light that supports life on Earth. Bethe's breakthrough work stems from the

British astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington's hypothesis in the 1920s that the intense temperatures and pressures

within the Sun can force the nuclei of atoms to fuse and create heavier atoms, releasing a tremendous amount of

energy in the process. In two papers in 1938 and 1939 Bethe described the two nuclear reactions that stars use to

produce energy, and showed how one predominates over the other depending on the internal conditions. For stars

up to and including the size of the Sun, the more dominant energy supply is generated by squeezing four hydrogen

nuclei together to form one helium nucleus. In the more extreme temperatures and pressures found in stars that

are heavier than our Sun, the dominant energy supply also transforms hydrogen into helium, but this involves a

more complex cycle of nuclear reactions in which carbon acts as a catalyst. Albert Einstein's most famous equation,

E=mc2, showing that mass and energy are interchangeable, explains why these fusion reactions create heat and

light. The mass of helium is less than the sum of the hydrogen nuclei, and the difference in mass is converted into

large quantities of energy.

Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus.

Alexander Graham Bell.

How the Sun Makes the Wind Blow:

The part of the Earth near the equator receives more of the sun’s energy than the North and South Poles. Some

parts of the Earth receive and/or absorb more solar energy than others. Some parts reflect more of the sun’s rays

back into the air. Light-colored surfaces and water reflect more sunlight than dark surfaces. Snow and ice reflect

sunlight, too. Some types of land absorb more solar energy than others. Dark forests absorb sunlight, while light

desert sands reflect it. When the Earth’s surface absorbs the sun’s energy, it turns the light into heat. This heat on

the Earth’s surface warms the air above it. The air over the equator gets warmer than the surface air near the poles.

The air over the desert gets warmer than the air in the mountains. The air over the land usually gets warmer than

the air over the water. As air warms, it expands. The warm air over the land becomes less dense than the cooler air

and rises into the atmosphere. Cooler, denser air nearby flows in to take its place. This moving air is what we call

wind. It is caused by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface.

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant native to the Americas. What is usually called the "flower" on a

mature sunflower is actually a "flower head" (also known as a "composite flower") of numerous florets (small

flowers) crowded together. The outer petal-bearing florets are the sterile florets and can be yellow, red, orange, or

other colors. The florets inside the circular head are called disc florets, which mature into seeds.

via 3.bp.blogspot.com

Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun. Pablo

Picasso

The leaves and buds of young sunflowers exhibit heliotropism (sun turning) as their orientation changes from east
to west during the course of a day. The movements become a circadian response and when plants are rotated 180
degrees, the old response pattern is still followed for a few days, with leaf orientation changing from west to east
instead. The leaf and flowerhead bud phototropism occurs while the leaf petioles and stems are still actively
growing, but once mature, the movements stop.

Every friend is to the other a sun, and a sunflower also. He attracts and follows. Jean Paul

Like stars and the moon, the Sun appears in some country flags, including such as Argentina, Japan, Taiwan, Peru, Uruguay, Kirguizistan, Malawi, Kazajastan, Kiribati, Antigua y Barbuda,...

via image.shutterstock.com

Sunsational music:

Bob marley sunshine reggae (via supersleepyme)

Here Comes The Sun (via JimiHendrixANDVADER)

You've got the sun, you've got the moon, and you've got the Rolling Stones. Keith Richards´ sort of a brain.

Animals - House Of The Rising Sun (via logiax)

bob marley i can see clearly (via 3900blok)

Elton John - Dont let the sun go down on me live (via greensman49)

Cream - Sunshine of your Love (via SmellsLikeReason)

The movie:

Sunshine Trailer (via giagirl)

Now we can go back to the Olympics.

via observadorglobal.com