THE SUN AND OUR PLANETS

Today in class we learned the correct order of our 9 planets starting at the centre of our solar system ( the sun) and traveling away from it. Please note you will have to know this and any other types of materials or structures that belong in space as well. ( Meteors, comets, asteroids, ect)

THE SUN

The sun is our planets source for heat and light. Without the sun we would not have any energy to live adn therefore we would be non-exsistant without it.
To give you a better idea on how large our yellow star ( the sun) is we can fit approximately 1.33 million planet earths inside the sun to fill up its volume.

The sun is made up of 2 types of gases. Hydrogen and Helium.
The sun is constantly undergoing nuclear reactions called fusion. What is happening because of the great temperature of the sun ( its core is 15, 000, 000 degrees Celsius) and the pressure of gravity is is converting its hydrogen gas into helium gas. The core of the sun is made up of helium. Just to give you an idea on how much gas is being changed, the sun is converting 600 tonns of hydrogen every second.

Next week you will learn what is goingto happen to our yellow star ( the sun) when there is no hydrogen left to burn. It is going to amaze you!

PARTS OF THE SUN:

1. The core - the area of the sun where nuclear reactions (fusion) takes place. It is in the centre of the sun

2. The photosphere - this region is located just under the outer layer of the sun. This is where light originates from and the temperature of this layer is about 6,000 degrees Celsius.

3. Solar flares - these are usually beside the sun spots and are areas that release subatomic particles and energy.

4. Sun spots - these are teh darker areas of the sun's surface. THis happens beacuse these spots are actually cooler than the surrounding area. Sun spots cycle about every 11 years. In this year of 2005 we are able to see many more of them.

5. The corona - the outer atmosphere layer of the esun. This can be seen clearly during an eclipse. It resembles the top flame colours of a candle. However, the coronas temperature is about a 1, 000, 000 degrees Celsius.

6. Solar prominences - these are streams or jets of gas that arch into space from the sun. They can reach up to a few thousand kilometers in size.


HOMEWORK:

Please read and take notes on pg 435 to 442 on the two models of the solar system.
Please answer questions 1 - 5 on pg 442.

For further reading please read pg 443 - 445 to get an over view of the sun and the correct arrangemt of the 9 planets in order.