Let's Talk About the Sun

[gjmalcyon]

Agreed.

To further the awe, 400x is likely the difference in diameter like with my blue dot pic since the Earth is 108x smaller than the sun by diameter.

By volume and mass things get crazy:

It would take more than 330,000 Earths to match the mass of the Sun, and it would take 1.3 million Earths to fill the Sun's volume. [source]

 

[GardMan]

Our soar system was born from the remnants of supernova

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.

In the cell biology class I taught at the U of U for 30 years, I gave one lecture on the origin of life. In that lecture, I pointed out to my students that every element heavier than Helium was made by nuclear fusion in a star, and every element greater than Iron in a super nova explosion. I then pointed out that they could, with some element of truth, tell their girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse or other romantic partner they were "made of stardust..."

 

[jp]

This reminds me of the time I was touring with a band, and I always carried a book with me to read when I had the chance. In a bookstore, I picked up a tiny, old pocket book about the sun that had great illustrations, albeit very dated information. When I opened the book, this was the first line: "The sun is a mass of incandescent gas--a gigantic nuclear furnace, where hydrogen is built into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees."

At that moment I realized that They Might be Giants completely plagiarized lyrics directly from this little book!



I think I still have it hidden on a shelf somewhere.

 

[GAD]

That's Wonderful!

 

[Midnight Toker]

By my calculation*, you would need to lay approximately 131 Billion guitar strings end-to-end to reach the sun from Earth. Slightly less if you play bass.

*YMMV - Your math may vary...

They would likely melt 1/1000th of the way there, but that just means more new guitar strings!

 

[Midnight Toker]

When I think of the sun, my head can geek out for sure, but my heart always drags me here.

 

[chazmo]

I mostly took programming (C)

Awesome... I spent most of my career working with the C programming language!

 

[chazmo]

Wear sunscreen!

Yes! As an avid convertible driver, even in New England, this is supremely good advice.

Baz Luhrmann agrees.

 

[MLBob]

In the cell biology class I taught at the U of U for 30 years, I gave one lecture on the origin of life. In that lecture, I pointed out to my students that every element heavier than Helium was made by nuclear fusion in a star, and every element greater than Iron in a super nova explosion. I then pointed out that they could, with some element of truth, tell their girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse or other romantic partner they were "made of stardust..."

"We are stardust; we are golden...."

 

[GAD]

Awesome... I spent most of my career working with the C programming language!

I’ve never used it professionally but all my Arduino stuff including all the Nixie clocks is C++.

 

[Cougar]

The blue dot is the size of Earth:

And compared to other stars, our Sun is pretty mediocre sized.

 

[Midnight Toker]

^That vid really punched it home. Our big blue marble is just a pipsqueek.

 

[merlin6666]

The astromical dimensions sure stretch the mind. Just attempt build a model of the solar system with planet sizes and distances to scale.

 

[Midnight Toker]

The astromical dimensions sure stretch the mind. Just attempt build a model of the solar system with planet sizes and distances to scale.

I have a mobile hanging in the corner of my living room that my parents bought me from the Air and space museum gift shop 40+ yrs ago.

 

[GGJaguar]

 

[Cougar]

Ha! In space, nobody can hear you shred....
without headphones.

 

[geoguy]

There is a scale model of our solar system in northern Maine. It is spread out over roughly 100 miles of roadway.

Maine solar system model, ayuh.

 

[Default]

And because no one said it yet;

IT BURNS! IT BURNS!!!

 

[Ross]

Thanks for posting this, GAD.
It's amazing to contemplate the sizes and distances in the universe.
And to appreciate the very tiny layer of air and water that allows life to exist on our tiny home.

 

[Cougar]

And to appreciate the very tiny layer of air and water that allows life to exist on our tiny home.

Yeah, and to realize that "single-celled life-forms persisted alone in the biosphere for perhaps 3 billion years." [Stuart Kauffman, At Home In The Universe] Only then did multi-celled life forms appear.

Speaking of cells, one of the most amazing books I've ever read is Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

"Filled with writing so vivid, lucid, and suspenseful that complex science becomes thrilling, The Song of the Cell tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. Told in six parts, and laced with Mukherjee’s own experience as a researcher, a doctor, and a prolific reader, The Song of the Cell is both panoramic and intimate—a masterpiece on what it means to be human."​