Questions tagged [the-sun]
Questions regarding the closest star to Earth, at the centre of the Solar System.
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5answers
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If fusion only happens near the center of the sun, what's with all the “fire” on the surface?
I understand that it isn't "fire" in the combustion of oxygen sense, but I can't find an answer online about what we're witnessing happening at the visible surface of the sun if all actual fusion ...
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1answer
115 views
Does the sun have a vertical movment?
As the Sun moves along with the planets does the sun exhibit vertical movement? That is, does it traverse in different planes?
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0answers
26 views
what/how do we mean/derive statistical equilibrium equation of certain energy levels?
While reading the research paper "Excitation of the Fe XIII Spectrum in the Solar Corona" by D.R. Flower and G. Pineau des Forets in the summary I found the concept of statistical equilibrium equation ...
2
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0answers
71 views
Orbital decay of the Earth's orbit and Earth's moving closer to the Sun
If we consider orbital decay of the Earth's orbit, then can we counter argue with the following reasons?
Due to tidal effects transferring small amounts of angular momentum from the Sun's spin to ...
2
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1answer
53 views
Why doesn't the solar azimuth vary uniformly
For the past few dates, I've been observing the rotation of the earth around the sun and noticed that the azimuth of the sun doesn't vary uniformly throughout the day. The azimuth varies faster during ...
1
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2answers
61 views
How to calculate solar coordinates. (Right Ascension, Declination, and ultimately the Altitude and Azimuth of the Sun)
As the title says I am trying to calculate solar coordinates of the sun for a given location and time. I have spent many 10's of hours on this without success so I will sincerely appreciate help on ...
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1answer
75 views
Date of solstices pre-0 AD
I’ve written a script based on Meeus’s Astronomical Algorithms to calculate the position of the sun, moon etc. up to about 4000 BC.
Everything looks good, except when I go to 4000 BC the solstice are ...
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2answers
200 views
Does the sun have cycles causing temperature changes on Earth?
Can the Sun go through seasons or cycles to cause a temperature change?
Could the Sun have to go through any kind of thermal cycle to change the climate on Earth and by how much?
2
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3answers
167 views
How moon is visible during sun is still shining, simple explanation please! [duplicate]
Sometimes I observed there is moon on sky at noon and sun is also shining.
How is this possible?
I also observed dull moon is still on sky at 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM while sun is rising. My local time is ...
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3answers
219 views
Why is the equinoxes only 2 days and not more?
The earth is tilted at 23.5 degrees which means that in the solstices the north/south hemisphere is more radiated by the sun and the tilt to the sun is maximum.
In the equinoxes, the tilt is not ...
1
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1answer
125 views
How long would an occultation by a TNO last?
A trans-Neptunian object, 1 million km from the observer, with an angular diameter of 0.126° occults the Sun (angular diameter of 0.004°) and the TNO and the observer are moving in the same direction, ...
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1answer
40 views
Seasonal effect based on Earth position [duplicate]
I know that Earth rotates around the Sun in an oval route:
And I know the seasons happen, because the axis of the Earth is not vertical. I think it is 23 degree slope.
How come the distance from the ...
3
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4answers
146 views
Is the equinox Sun always at the same zodiac sign in the ecliptic belt?
During the year the Sun moves along the ecliptic passing all the signs of the zodiac belt, in my understanding. This means that it takes ~1 month to go from one zodiac sign to the next.
The ...
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2answers
75 views
Should the sun appear very low in the horizon if its path is always between the two tropics?
If the sun never rises above the tropic of cancer and never goes bellow (southern) of the tropic of capricorn then it seems that it should appear to the observer lower and lower in the horizon for as ...
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1answer
89 views
South of the tropics, where does the sun's noon shadow point?
If I understand correctly, in countries to the north of the tropics the sun's noon shadow points north.
What happens south of the tropics? Is it pointing south?
2
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1answer
56 views
What does the Sun look like from the heliopause?
I calculated the angular diameter of the Sun at the heliopause to be 0.004°. If that is correct, would the Sun appear as a disk, or like the pinpoint of light from a star?
How bright would the ...
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1answer
95 views
Could the Sun have liquid iron in orbit?
How close of an orbit to the Sun could an iron meteor get before it melts into a ball?
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0answers
37 views
Angle between earth's angular momentum and earth's axis
I think this picture is correct because for earth astronomical day is slightly shorter than solar day. (Is it a rule of thumb for planets? Where can I read such data?)
Source
So the angle between ...
0
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1answer
67 views
Does the Sun's atmosphere have a scale height?
Much of the Earth's atmosphere has a scale height $h$ of roughly 7 to 8 kilometers such that the local density varies as $\exp(-(r-r_0)/h)$ where r is the radius vector and $r_0$ would be some ...
5
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2answers
97 views
Why does the sun have a convection layer and a radiation layer?
Why is the outer section of the sun convective but the inner section stable and only radiative? They are both made up of the same kind of matter, both heated by the core.
3
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2answers
104 views
Sunset on [Mountain] from [Viewing Point]
How do I get the days in this year when the sun will set exactly on top of Fuji as viewed from Enoshima.
I shamefully admit that I just want to take a nice picture of Fuji.
38
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1answer
5k views
Why does the Sun have different day lengths, but not the gas giants?
The Sun's rotation period varies from about 25 days at the equator to about 38 days at the poles. As I understand it, this is because the Sun is not solid, and because of the way centripetal force ...
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3answers
3k views
Why doesn't the fusion process of the sun speed up?
Am I correct in saying that the fusion process of the sun is constant, i.e. X amount of fusion happens per day, more or less?
Why does this not speed up, i.e. one fusion event creates energy for two ...
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1answer
93 views
Can the Sun pull an iron asteriods in it's orbit into it? [closed]
Can our Sun's magnetic field strengthen in any way in a short period? Can the Sun pull anything trapped in close orbit around it? What would happen if an object in orbit passes over a sunspot for ...
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0answers
14 views
Did OSO-3 or any other spacecraft or ground telescope record the solar activity that is likely the cause of the May 1967 aurora?
The question What solar event caused massive aurora borealis in the mid 1960's? reminds me again of a stunningly bright aurora that I saw circa 40°N circa 1967, and after reading the comments and ...
2
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0answers
36 views
Definition of the light that is projected by a celestial body/luminary [closed]
I'm creating an application which will simulate the light created by sun or moon on a 3d topographic map of Earth. Something like this:
Is there a word or definition for this light/light projection?
2
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1answer
92 views
Does the Sun twinkle?
Does our solar system have enough bodies in orbit to appear to twinkle to another distant solar system viewed from the side?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid-discovering_observatories
...
2
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1answer
46 views
Solar azimuth for celtic fire festivals
I am pretty new to astronomy, and I have fallen down rabbit hole creating a new Metonic calendar in Javascript.
As part of this I would like to calculate when the sun is half way between a solstice ...
3
votes
0answers
58 views
First observation that the Sun and Jupiter (and friends) move around a common barycenter?
Answers to the question How did Kepler determine the orbital period of Mars? describing careful observations centuries ago got me thinking.
What was the first analysis of observations that directly ...
2
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1answer
67 views
Historical Distance of Planets to Earth [duplicate]
I'm curious if there is a readily accessible tool available, or simply a reliable way to find out what the distance of the planets in the solar system were on a given date.
For example, if I am ...
6
votes
3answers
457 views
Why do sun spots appear near the equator of the Sun?
I noticed on many examples sun spots are near the equator of the Sun. Why are there no sun spots closer to the poles of the Sun?
1
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1answer
71 views
Is there a plausible causal mechanism to explain why the Sun would be heating up faster/ sooner than we thought? Question for a novel [closed]
I am writing a novel about what it will be like on earth 500 or so years before the death of our Sun. The Sun is heating up gradually and one day that will negatively affect life on Earth. I know that ...
11
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1answer
2k views
How do we know if an object is redshifted?
I have some questions about redshift. I think that the first two hang on the last two, but feel free to point out anything you think I should know.
How do we know if an object is actually redshifted,...
2
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1answer
83 views
Are there any ways in which the light time difference between the center and the edge of the solar disk is noticeable?
In the ABC News video New space discovery has astronomers buzzing at about 02:30 Dr. Hakeem M. Oluseyi explains that the shortness of FRBs (before dispersion) suggests a compact source size and ...
3
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0answers
55 views
Did Eudoxus describe the eclipitic on his sun motion model?
In the description of Eudoxus’s model for the sun he says one the three circles which describe solar motion is “the circle which runs along the middle of the zodiac”. Does this refer to the ecliptic ...
2
votes
1answer
90 views
Geographical Point of the Sun
I want to draw a Sun in a 3d scene, so I figured the easiest way would be to calculate the latitude and longitude of the point perpendicular to Sun position and then just move it "up".
As a starting ...
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1answer
63 views
Do we know if there are asteroids leading or following Earth in Earth's orbit around the Sun?
A search of the Internet is so clouded with discussions about the asteroid belt or asteroids orbiting the planet Earth that I couldn't see an answer to my question.
Do we know if there are asteroids ...
8
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2answers
151 views
How fast will the sun grow when it becomes a red giant?
We all know that our sun will become a red giant in a couple of billion years? But how fast will the process be when it starts? Would it be theoretically possible (disregarding the deadly effects of ...
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0answers
40 views
Looking for a 3D animation showing the motion of the sun relative to other stars and the Milky Way, any one seen anything like that?
I am looking for an animation that not only shows the inclination of the solar system respective to the plane of the galaxy, but also shows the motion of the sun relative to and in conjunction with (i....
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2answers
62 views
Why is it that night has a almost a bluish tint to it instead of red?
From my understanding/been told, the color red has the ability to travel the farthest in our atmosphere, being the reason why we have red sunsets and such. But with this in mind, why is it that at ...
2
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2answers
94 views
Would the solar corona be visible from the distance of the outer planets?
If the photosphere was blocked, before the sun rises on an airless moon in the outer solar system, would either the inner or outer corona be visible to the naked eye?
3
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1answer
51 views
Would one have to be more than halfway to the Oort Cloud for the Sun to appear as bright as the full moon?
Is this correct? If the Sun is 400,000 times brighter than the full moon am I correct in figuring that one would have to be about 632AU from the Sun for it to appear as bright as the full moon. If ...
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0answers
45 views
Can you go blind if you look at the sunrise and sunset? [duplicate]
Everyine knows its dangerous to look directly at the sun, but can you look safely at sunrises and sunsets without going blind? Because the uv radiaton and the light is much weaker. Or is it still very ...
1
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1answer
49 views
Which side of earth will face toward sun when earth and sun will be get closer and be bonded by Gravitational Force? [duplicate]
We all know that one day the distance between the Earth and the sun will be zero. They will be bonded with gravity. My Question is which side of the earth will face toward the sun? I can't calculate ...
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0answers
29 views
What should be the seperation between sun and moon during a solar and lunar eclipse as viewed from earth?
I saw this code online where a guy calculates the separation between sun and moon and verify the occurrence of eclipses. You can find the codes here.
Why does he uses earth's angular size
seen from ...
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2answers
176 views
Calculating the sun’s position in ECI
I’m trying to calculate visible ISS passes and I need to calculate if the ISS is behind the earth by “drawing” a line between the ISS and the sun and seeing if it crosses earth. I have the ECI ...
9
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1answer
942 views
What would the sun look like from aphelion of The Goblin's orbit?
I was amazed to find out about the discovery of The Goblin 2015 TG387 with an orbital period of more than 32 thousand years and a aphelion of more than 1955 AU! That is an astonishing distance. What ...
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0answers
51 views
What is the great (platonic?) year? How could it be explained in laymen's terms?
How could a great year be explained in laymen's terms?
According to the definition in NASA's Aerospace Dictionary it is a complete cycle of the equinoxes around the ecliptic that completes in 26000 ...
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2answers
68 views
What is meant by sun's path through zodiac
I read somewhere that sun's daily course and complete cycle is visible in the ecliptic belt by zodiac constellations.
I didn't understand what that means closest I could find online is: https://www....
15
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3answers
3k views
In which direction is the sun travelling?
Relative to this simple drawing, can someone explain to me,
in which direction is the sun and its solar system travelling,
which star (irrespective of distance) is closest to that direction,
and in ...
