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
