schneiderism

This evening it was appropriate to be distracted by things of stellar proportions. So much of our daily reality is ultimately abstracted from the nature around us, we should avail ourselves of every opportunity to reconnect. Do you remember how cool it was to study the sun and the solar system back in grade school? Here is a refresher:

- The sun accounts for about 99.8% of the total mass of the solar system
- It is composed of hydrogen (about 74%), helium (about 25%), and other trace elements
- The surface temperature is approximately 5,315 degrees Celsius
- The sun is about 26,000 light years from the Milky Way’s galactic center, which it orbits
- It completes one orbit of the galactic center every 225-250 million years
- The sun’s orbital speed around the galactic center is approximately 135 miles per second
- At its surface, the sun is 1000 times more vacuous than a candle flame here on Earth
- The concentrated gases beneath the surface are 100 times thinner than our air
- The highly compressed gassy matter of the interior is 10 times more dense than steel
- Magnetic hurricanes 1000’s of miles in diameter constantly erupt on the sun’s surface
- Those magnetic hurricanes are what we see and call “sun spots”

And perhaps the coolest sun fact for today is that as its surface explodes in arching plumes (see image above) it releases glowing veils of gaseous calcium. In others words, the same elemental mineral used for your bones, your teeth, and pearls jets outward from the sun in astrophysical strings that create those incredibly beautiful magnetic horse shoe curves which have been clocked at speeds up to 400 miles a second.

I cannot wait until my daughter begins to study this stuff.