Astronomy test 17-19

How many other stars are there in our solar system?

1

How many Earths you can fit in the boundaries of the Sun?

1,000,000 (1 million Earths)

The Sun's outer atmosphere is called the corona, which strangely jumps back up to a _. We still don't fully understand how this material can be so hot, though it is widely agreed that the sun's magnetic field is somehow involved, while some propose that it is acoustic energy that is responsible.

1,000,000 Kelvin

Sun has a surface temperature of _.

10,000 °F (10 thousand degrees Fahrenheit)

Our Sun is the largest and most massive object in the solar system. It's more than _ earths wide.

100 (hundred)

What is the length of the sunspot cycle?

11 years

The Sun's photosphere, or outermost, visible layer, burns at around 6000 Kelvin, while the hot inner core burns at around _, unfathomably dense because of the crushing gravity, but still remaining a plasma due to the heat.

15 million Kelvin

The core of the Sun is the hottest place in the solar system, as it sweltering 27 million ⁰ F or _.

15 million ⁰C

When was the "perfect solar storm"?

1859

When did scientists discover nuclear fusion?

1920's

When was there a sunquake that would've measured 11.3 on the Richter scale?

1998

In the core temperatures reaching at least _.

27 million degrees Fahrenheit

The Sun is formed about _ years ago in the Milky Way galaxy's Orion's arm.

4.5 billion

We live on a planet that orbits the star that we call "the sun". The sun, which is a population one-star, formed around _ years ago from a cloud of gas and dust, which was rich in heavy elements that were introduced to interstellar space when older population three and two stars spewed out their contents during supernovas.

4.6 billion

Despite its size and strength, the Sun will not last forever in about _ years it will run out of its hydrogen fuel.

6.5 billion

Our Sun is the largest and most massive object in the solar system. It could theoretically fit all eight planets inside nearly _ times.

600

The Sun's photosphere, or outermost, visible layer, burns at around _.

6000 Kelvin

How long does it take for a photon to travel from the sun to our planet?

8 min

How far away is Earth from the Sun?

93 million miles (93,000,000 mi)

Sun also contains approximately _ of all the mass in the solar system.

99.8%

The Sun's diameter is more than a hundred times greater than that of the earth, which means it would take over a million earths to fill up the sun. The sun makes up about _ percent of the mass of the solar system.

99.86

Our Sun is a typical _, a yellow main-sequence star. It is a population one star as it is relatively new, having formed from a cloud of gas and dust which contained significant amounts of material that had been ejected from the death of other, older stars.

G star

Objects are jostled around all the time, like a few billion years ago when Jupiter and Saturn lined up in such a fashion that Neptune's orbit altered, in turn sending small objects in the outer solar system towards the inner planets, raining down on them in an event called the _.

Late Heavy Bombardment

We now know a lot about how stars and galaxies form, including our own galaxy which is called _.

Milky Way galaxy

The NOAA is home to what organization?

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

If we zoom in on this portion of the _, fairly distant from the galactic center, we see a yellow main sequence star. This star is not special as far as stars go. It's not very big, at precisely one solar mass, serving as the definition for the unit. In fact, it's rather on the small side as far as stars go. The only thing that makes this star special is that it's ours

Orion arm

_ releases an enormous amount of energy in the form of radiation, electricity, solar wind, and as we experience on earth life-giving heat and light.

Sun's thermonuclear fusion

In between the core and the photosphere is a radiative zone, where photons radiate outwards, absorbed and emitted in random directions for a hundred thousand years before they eventually find the surface and can move through space.

True

The bulk of this cloud came together at the center, gravity squeezing with such force that fusion began, powering the newly formed sun.

True

The sun also has an atmosphere.

True

What will the Sun expand to?

a red giant

Sun was born when a cloud of dust and gas known as _ collapsed and matter condensed into a burning ball of gas.

a solar nebula

What type of star is our sun?

a yellow dwarf

How many other stars are there in the Universe?

billions

Energy from solar storms has easy access to what regions?

break the magnetic field lines on the far side of the earth

In terms of atom count, the Sun is about point one percent (0.1%) heavier elements such as _.

carbon and nitrogen

It may come as a surprise that the sun also has an atmosphere. The lower atmosphere is called the _, which is re_latively cool, and the outer atmosphere is called the _, which strangely jumps back up to a million Kelvin.

chromosphere, corona

There is also the _, where material is far enough from the core that it has an opportunity to cool as it rises, which allows it to sink back down, where it then heats back up, continuing in a cyclical manner.

convection zone

What is the sun's outer atmosphere called?

corona

When can you see the corona from Earth? During a total solar eclipse.

during a total solar eclipse

What will happen to Earth's orbit?

earth is likely to change the orbit slightly

For the gas and dust that made up the outer regions, this also collected into spheres due to gravity, though beyond just iron and rock, these also contained lots of ice, given the colder temperatures present at this greater distance from the sun. Once large enough, they could also attract much of the gas in their vicinity, so these became the gaseous planets we call the _.

gas giants

Because of its mass, the Sun has a great pull on the fabric of space creating a _ that causes nearby planetary bodies to be drawn toward it. This gravitational pull allows the Sun to hold together a system of eight planets, potentially dozens of dwarf planets, at least 170 moons, and countless comets and asteroids.

gravitational force

Without the sun's _, these celestial bodies would drift off into deep space.

gravity

Beyond flares, activity in the corona results in the solar wind, a constant stream of plasma, or high-energy charged particles, flying through space in all directions. This solar wind travels for incredible distances, the limit of which marks the end of the _.

heliosphere

In terms of atom count, the Sun is about 8.9% _.

helium

In terms of atom count, the Sun is about 91% _.

hydrogen

When will the Sun die?

in about 5 billion years

Why doesn't Mars have an atmosphere?

it doesn't have a strong internal magnetic field

Sun's magnetic field is caused by the sun's plasma pushing electrically charged particles toward the poles. This process turns the Sun into a giant _.

magnet

Another critical property of the Sun is its _ which encapsulates the entire solar system called the heliosphere. This force field protects the planets from harmful cosmic radiation.

magnetic field

There are plumes of plasma called prominences, which are also generated by the _.

magnetic field

What drives all outbursts of solar violence?

magnetism

How often do we get a total eclipse?

once every year and a half

The sun's fiery nature along with a tremendous gravitational pull and an extensive magnetic field helped it to become the heart of _.

our solar system

What are the particles of light and heat that carry energy out of the sun called?

photons

Due to the sun's extreme temperatures, the sun's elements stay in a gas like phase called _.

plasma

Due to the tremendous amount of heat, the sun's core is not solid, but _.

plazma

This cloud, with all of its hydrogen, as well as silicates, iron, water, and other substances, began to spin and flatten into a disk, just like galaxies do, but in this case, we call it a _.

protoplanetary disk

What are the most colossal explosions in the solar system?

solar flares

What causes the Auroras?

solar stormes

Coronal Mass Ejections (the most dangerous threat you've never heard of) are also known as:

solar storms

This boundary for the solar wind is the limit of the sun's influence on its surroundings, which means it qualifies as the boundary of the _, lying extremely far beyond the outermost planet.

solar system itself

What are the dark blemishes on the sun's surface called?

sun-spots

Along the surface of the sun, we can find dark patches called _, which is where the magnetic field lines loop out of the sun, preventing the rise of gas in particular locations, and thus generating cooler, darker areas.

sunspots

Although the sun's magnetic field is invisible to the naked eye its effects are noticeable. On the sun's surface are dark areas called _.

sunspots

What is the massive explosion that spawned our sun called?

supernova

The Sun can be divided into six layers or regions:_.

the corona, the chromosphere, the photosphere, the convective, and radiative zones, and the core. the corona, the chromosphere, the photosphere, the convective, and radiative zones, and the core.

About what size will the Sun be once it has cast off its outer shell?

the size of the Earth

As most of the surrounding debris at each particular orbital distance was cleared, these objects became massive enough to take on a spherical shape, under the influence of _.

their own gravity

Combined with the sun's powerful gravity fused together hydrogen molecules to create helium is called _.

thermonuclear fusion

Despite its size and strength, the Sun will not last forever. It will run out of its hydrogen fuel. It will expand to envelop Mercury, Venus, and even Earth, and then collapse into a small star known as a _.

white dwarf