STARMAP

AN INTRODUCTORY PICTORIAL TOUR OF THE UNIVERSE

Edward Alan Ridgill M.D.

• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781639857944
• eBook ISBN: 9781639857951
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Astronomy & Astrophysics

Starmap is an introductory pictorial guide of our universe. It contains vivid NASA images, diagrams, and depictions of the cosmos with easy-to-understand explanations and descriptions. It contains full-page pictures of our universe. It makes a great coffee-table book and is great for virtual learning.

Chapter 1

Our Neighborhood in the Universe

OUR SUN

The Sun is the star at the center of the Earth’s solar system. It is a sphere of hot plasma, heated by a continuous nuclear fusion reaction in its core. The sun radiates energy mainly as light and infrared radiation. The temperature of the sun’s core is 26,999,540 degrees Fahrenheit (14,999,727 Celsius). Its surface temperature is about 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The sun’s diameter is 864,000 miles (1.9M kilometers), which is 109 times the size of the Earth. Its mass is 330,000 times that of Earth. The sun is part of the Cassiopeia constellation in the Milky Way galaxy.

In addition to heat and light, the sun also emits a low-density stream of charged particles (mostly electrons and protons) known as the solar wind that propagates throughout the solar system at about 279 miles per second (450 kilometers/sec). The solar wind and the much higher energy particles ejected by solar flares can have dramatic effects on the Earth ranging from power line surges to radio interference to the beautiful aurora borealis. The solar wind has large effects on the tails of comets and even has measurable effects on the trajectories of spacecraft. Further study of the solar wind will be done by the Wind, ACE, and SOHO spacecraft from the dynamically stable vantage point directly between the Earth and the sun about 1.6 million kilometers from Earth.

The Sun is about 4.5 billion years old. Since its birth, it has used up about half of the hydrogen in its core. It will continue to radiate “peacefully” for another 5 billion years or so; however, its luminosity1 will approximately double in that time. As the Sun ages, it will get bigger. When this happens, it will consume some of the objects close to it, including Mercury and Venus. Eventually, the Sun will run out of hydrogen fuel. It will then be forced into ...

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Notes
• About the Author