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Parker Solar Probe Mission (NASA Goddard)
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Posts
- Touch the Sun (12/6/2019) - Remember how Icarus wanted to touch the Sun, but met his demise instead? Well, scientists at NASA wanted to touch the Sun too, but unlike Icarus, they succeeded! Better yet, they are beginning to share what they learned by doing it! Before we get into all of that, let’s go back and start at the … Continue reading Touch the Sun
- Get Lost in Space! (9/14/2018) - Way back in August, in anticipation of the start of a new school year, I set out to update the pages on this site related to space. Those pages tend to be popular among the teachers and students who use Cosma, and I happen to enjoy updating them, too. It sounded like a short, fun … Continue reading Get Lost in Space!
- Space Art & Junk (1/30/2018) - In certain circles it is not uncommon to trip across the debate “Is graffiti art?” You can also find scads about it online if you are so inclined (Google). However, the debate doesn’t come up all that often in the context of conversations about satellites or space… until now. Earlier this month a company named … Continue reading Space Art & Junk
- Umbraphiles (8/20/2017) - umbraphile : One who loves eclipses, often travelling to see them. — Wiktionary Yes, this is that obligatory post about “The Solar Eclipse” (NASA, Wikipedia). Of course, there had to be one — eclipses really are just too cool to ignore. You’ve already been bombarded with explanations of the science and history of eclipses, but … Continue reading Umbraphiles
- Auroras (7/17/2017) - There was a lot of talk about the potential of seeing Aurora Borealis (a.k.a. the Northern Lights) much further south than usual on Sunday night, but sadly, that didn’t pan out as predicted. The Northern Lights were a letdown in New England (Dialynn Dwyer, Boston.com) For anyone who is bummed about not seeing them, has … Continue reading Auroras
Resources
These are organized by a classification scheme developed exclusively for Cosma. More…
General
Portal
Our Sun & Solar System Internet Resources (Library of Congress)
Living With a Star Program (NASA)
Solar System Exploration, The Sun, Our Star (NASA.Gov)
Sun Portal (Wikipedia)
Dictionary
Sun : (1) the luminous celestial body around which the earth and other planets revolve, from which they receive heat and light, which is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium, and which has a mean distance from earth of about 93,000,000 miles (150,000,000 kilometers), a linear diameter of 864,000 miles (1,390,000 kilometers), and a mass 332,000 times greater than earth (2) a celestial body like the Sun — Webster
OneLook, Free Dictionary, Wiktionary, Urban Dictionary
Thesaurus
Roget’s II (Thesaurus.com), Merriam-Webster Thesaurus, Visuwords
Encyclopedia
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth, and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, accounting for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. About three quarters of the Sun’s mass consists of hydrogen (~73%); the rest is mostly helium (~25%), with much smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron.
The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V) based on its spectral class. As such, it is informally referred to as a yellow dwarf. It formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Most of this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that became the Solar System. The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core. It is thought that almost all stars form by this process.
The Sun is roughly middle-aged; it has not changed dramatically for more than four billion years, and will remain fairly stable for more than another five billion years. After hydrogen fusion in its core has diminished to the point at which it is no longer in hydrostatic equilibrium, the core of the Sun will experience a marked increase in density and temperature while its outer layers expand to eventually become a red giant. It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of Mercury and Venus, and render Earth uninhabitable. — Wikipedia
Introduction
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Science
Heliophysics means “physics of the Sun” (the prefix “helio”, from Attic Greek hḗlios, means Sun), and appears to have been used only in that sense until quite recently. In the early times, heliophysics was concerned principally with the superficial layers of the star, and was synonymous with what is now more commonly called “solar physics”. Usage was extended explicitly in 1981 to its literal meaning, denoting the physics of the entire Sun: from center to corona, and has been used in that sense since. — Wikipedia
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NASA Heliophysics (NASA)
Science of Heliophysics (HELIO Heliophysics Integrated Observatory)
Solar Physics (Marshall Space Flight Center)
Solar Physics Glossary (NASA)
Space Weather Prediction Center (NOAA.gov)
Space Weather.com
Space Weather (Wolfram Alpha)
Solar Storms (Wikipedia)
Future
What will happen when our sun dies? (University of Manchester, Phys.org)
The sun will become a planetary nebula after it dies, astronomers predict (Brooks Hays, UPI)
Preservation
History
Giovanni Cassini Biography (Space.com)
Giovanni Domenico Cassini (Wikipedia)
Sunspots – The Exploratorium’s Guide to Sunspots
Voyages to the Sun (Steven J. Dick, NASA’s Chief Historian)
Missions to Study the Sun (Planetary Society)
Quotation
Library
WorldCat, Library of Congress, UPenn Online Books, Open Library
Participation
Education
Crash Course Kids Space Science: The Sun and Its Influence on Earth (YouTube Channel)
Why does the sun burn us? (Space Place, NASA)
The Sun (Ask an Astronomer, Cornell University)
Sun (Cosmos4Kids)
Course
Crash Course Astronomy (YouTube)
OER Commons: Open Educational Resources
Community
News
Space Weather Live, News about the Sun (NASA), Science Daily, NPR Archives
Book
Government
Space Weather Prediction Center (NOAA)
Document
Expression
Fun
Arts
The top 10 suns in art (The Guardian)
Poem
OEDILF: The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form
Music
More…
Sun News -- ScienceDaily News about the Sun. Science articles on Sunspots and the Sun's Corona; evidence the Sun has a companion star; images from the far side of the Sun and more.
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Solar storm forecasts for Earth improved with...
on September 18, 2020 at 3:33 pm
Scientists used observations recorded by members of the public to increase accuracy of computer model predictions of when harmful CMEs will hit Earth.
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Can life survive a star's death? Webb telescope...
on September 16, 2020 at 3:36 pm
When stars like our sun die, all that remains is an exposed core -- a white dwarf. A planet orbiting a white dwarf presents a promising opportunity to determine if life can survive the death of its star, according to researchers.
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Enormous planet quickly orbiting a tiny, dying...
on September 16, 2020 at 3:35 pm
Thanks to a bevy of telescopes in space and on Earth -- and even a pair of amateur astronomers in Arizona -- astronomers have discovered a Jupiter-sized planet orbiting at breakneck speed around a distant white dwarf star.
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Modern theory from ancient impacts
on September 16, 2020 at 1:42 pm
It is generally accepted that the inner region of the early solar system was subject to an intense period of meteoric bombardment referred to as the late heavy bombardment. However, researchers have found evidence that suggests this period occurred slightly earlier than thought and was less intense but also more prolonged. Such details about this period could impact theories about the early Earth and the dawn of life.
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From star to solar system: How protoplanetary...
on September 15, 2020 at 4:13 pm
The star HL Tauri is glowing at the center of a system of concentric rings made from gas and dust and producing planets, one for each gap in the ring. Its discovery has shaken solar system origin theories to their core.
Solar Flare News -- ScienceDaily Latest research news on solar flares, the solar cycle, geomagnetic storms and more.
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Solar storm forecasts for Earth improved with...
on September 18, 2020 at 3:33 pm
Scientists used observations recorded by members of the public to increase accuracy of computer model predictions of when harmful CMEs will hit Earth.
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Meteorites show transport of material in early...
on September 8, 2020 at 5:11 pm
New studies of a rare type of meteorite show that material from close to the Sun reached the outer solar system even as the planet Jupiter cleared a gap in the disk of dust and gas from which the planets formed. The results add to an emerging understanding of how our Solar System formed and how planets form around other stars.
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How to have a blast like a black hole
on September 8, 2020 at 2:16 pm
Scientists have created magnetized-plasma conditions similar to those near a black hole using very intense laser pulses. This work may help show how X-rays can be produced by astronomical objects.
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Europe's largest Solar Telescope GREGOR unveils...
on September 1, 2020 at 3:22 pm
GREGOR, the largest solar telescope in Europe, has obtained unprecedented images of the fine-structure of the Sun. Following a major redesign of GREGOR's optics, the Sun can be observed at a higher resolution than before from Europe.
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Spinning black hole powers jet by magnetic flux
on August 21, 2020 at 2:38 pm
A new letter has been found in the mysterious alphabet of black holes.