Sunday, October 26, 2014

The tiny thing called the sun

       When it was not known that the sun was not the only star in the universe it was regarded as god as the sole sustainer of life on earth. However as astronomy advanced with the development of better telescopes it was discovered that the sun was just another star that is nearest to the earth. There are quadrillions of other stars in the universe many of whom are much larger than our sun

       This stars are basically composed of Hydrogen atoms in plasma state of matter . At the core of the sun  the temperature exceeds 1 million degree centigrade , this temperature is ideal for initiation of a thermonuclear fusion reaction in which two hydrogen nuclei fuse to form a helium nucleus . The mass of this helium nucleus is slightly less than than the combined mass of the two hydrogen nuclei . The disappeared mass is actually converted into energy, the amount of energy is given by the equation (E=mXcXc) . Thus the equation indicates that a massive amount of energy is released this energy is transferred across the solar system in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The same phenomenon goes on in all other stars.

       In terms of volume the sun is more than a million times larger than the earth and in terms of weight the sun is more than 1,00,000 times heavier than the earth. But in the universe there are stars that have a radius that is more than 1500 times that of the sun. Which makes them 3.3 million times larger and more massive than the sun. Every galaxy in the universe has a super massive blackhole at the centre. There are super massive black holes that are 17 billion times more massive than the sun. The stars and other planetary bodies encircle this black hole and revolve around it.

      Just a few days ago NASA shared photograph of a Pulsar that is radiating electromagnetic energy at the rate of 10 million suns a second. While a supernovae which is an exploding star can radiate an amount of energy that is equivalent to what the Sun or any other ordinary star radiates in its entire lifetime before is fades away in a few weeks or few months . 

      So in terms of size and the amount of energy radiated  there are stellar bodies in the universe in front of which our sun appears to be a microsome. 

    

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