Our Sun

Question 1

Our Sun

Answer 1

1) Is a Main Sequence Star
2) Has a solar mass of one (it’s the yard-stick by which we measure other stars)
3) Is roughly 93 million miles away from Earth
4) Uses the proton-proton chain reaction to fuse hydrogen through nuclear fusion
5) Generally accepted to be almost 4.5 billion years old
6) Believed to be half-way through its life as a Main Sequence Star with another 4 - 5 million years before turning into a Red Giant
7) Takes almost 250 million years to complete one orbit around the center of the Milky Way

Question 2

Sun lights

Answer 2

electromagnetic radiation released by the sun. Light from the sun takes about 8 minutes and 19 seconds to travel to Earth

Question 3

Sunspots (Also known as Dark Spots)

Answer 3

Areas on the sun of lower heat caused by magnetic activity, which is why they appear dark compared to the surrounding area. “Lower heat” in this case is a relative term. They’re still around 40,000 degrees Kelvin.

Question 4

Plage

Answer 4

A bright region appearing in the Sun’s chromosome. They most often appear near sunspots activity.

Question 5

Corona

Answer 5

The Sun’s atmosphere that extends millions of miles into space. If you’ve ever seen a picture of the sun during an eclipse, where the body of the sun is covered but there’s plenty of wispy light visible around the edges, then you’ve seen the Sun’s corona.

Question 6

Solar flare

Answer 6

An explosion within the atmosphere of the sun. Research has shown that these are caused by magnetic fields interacting with each other.

Question 7

Spicule

Answer 7

A relatively thin jet protruding from the Sun. It is distinct from a solar flare in that it lasts for about five to ten minutes.

Question 8

Solar Apex

Answer 8

You can think of this as the direction the sun is traveling in relation to the stars of the Milky Way.