The sun Definition and 622 Threads

Homework Statement Energy from the sun (distance 1.496 x 10^11m from earth) arrives at the Earth at a rate of 1400W/m^2. How fast is the sun losing mass due to energy radiation? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution Ok so i thought that Ei = E/r^2 where Ei is incident...

is the distance between the sun and Earth the same as the distance between the moon and the sun?

[SIZE="2"]why is the light from the sun called white light?

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Homework Statement Consider the system of the Sun, Earth, and Moon, at a moment in time when they happen to be exactly in a line. (Assume that all distances d are measured between the centers of all bodies, and that all distances d are much greater than the radii of all bodies. M(sun) =...

For this science project I'm doing, i am going to be investigating the I.R Lowpass (a.k.a: Near infrared spectrum) with goggles i shall soon be constructing based on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2-nP2xl9Zg&feature=player_embedded" This question may be a bit silly but will my goggles work...

I understand that the Earth takes 365 days (give or take) to orbit the sun. I also understand that the physics of the universe are in continual flux (expanding universe, cooling suns, etc). Question: Is it plausible to assume that the Earth took a shorter/longer time to orbit the sun a...

Hypothetical question: Imagine that a massive object large enough to observe with a powerful telescope was ejected from the sun and began traveling toward earth. It would take about 8.3 minutes for the light from the sun to reach Earth so we could observe the initial event. Let's imagine...

Homework Statement Ive been trying to find the Inertia and Kinetic energy of the sun. I have a feeling I am using the wrong formulas to obtain the answer. Mass of sun 2*10^30kg Radius of sun 700*10^6 m t spin = 26 days the answers should be I = 4.0 * 10^98 K energy = 1.5 * 10^16 Homework...

An asteroid is orbiting around the sun at a distance of 4.2  1011 m. If the Earth orbits around the Sun at a distance of 1.5  1011 m with a period of 3.2  107 s, what is the period of the asteroid?

Homework Statement at a moment of total eclipse the moon lies in a straight line from the Earth to the sun. If your normal weight is 600N how much is your weight decreased by the combined pull of the sun and moon? [b]2. Homework Equations Mass of sun - 2.0x10^30 kg distance from...

Homework Statement A comet passes the sun at a distance of closest approach R = 6 * 10^8 m and speed 8 * 10^5 m/sec. How long will it take to travel 80 degrees around its orbit from the point of closest approach. Homework Equations omega = velocity / radius The Attempt at a...

Homework Statement A comet is in an elliptical orbit around the Sun. Its closest approach to the Sun is a distance of 4.5e10 m (inside the orbit of Mercury), at which point its speed is 9.6e4 m/s. Its farthest distance from the Sun is far beyond the orbit of Pluto. What is its speed when it...

Pardon this completely naive question. I am wondering why there are net magnetic fields on the Sun. Isn't there an equal number of protons - hydrogen nuclei - to electrons? Is there a separation of protons and electrons in different parts of the Sun so that there can be net currents? or are...

Ok, so the sun appears to move westward on a daily basis. But eastward through the stars on a yearly basis. I am supposed to explain both the daily and yearly motion of the sun using a few paragraphs with definitions and diagrams. For the year I basically have to explain and draw the sun's...

Homework Statement What is the linear velocity of a persion standing at the Earth’s equator with respect to the Sun, when the Sun is just at the Eastern horizon? Homework Equations Not sure, I used to v=d/t to solve for a person's linear velocity at the equator, just not sure how to handle...

Hello! I'm new here, and I don't honestly know anything about astrophysics, so I'm sorry in advance for the upcoming questions and would like to ask you to be as elaborate and as simple as possible. So, if the sun expands, when do you think this will happen? If Earth is still alive, what do you...

Use your average value of G to estimate the mass of the Sun. Assume that the orbit of the Earth around the Sun is circular. The orbital radius of the Earth on its path around the Sun is R=1.5X10^11 m and the Earth needs 365.25 days for one full orbit. You need to provide detailed steps how you...

Homework Statement Kelvin could only see the photosphere (the glowing outer surface) of the sun, so didn't know how the mass was distributed inside it. How would the potential energy of the sun change if it was a hollow shell? (No numbers needed; just indicate whether it would be more or...

I was reading something the other day on spectral readings from the sun, and I have a few questions regarding its composition. I know that there are heavier elements (gold, uranium, etc.) in the sun. I'm confused by this, as I didn't think there was enough energy to form such elements. My...

Hi, I'm actually a Design Engineer but I find the topic of Relativity extremely interesting and I was wondering if somebody could give me some guidance on this. If Planets and Stars (due to their mass) 'warp' Space-Time then this means that our Sun distorts the fabric of space just like a...

The sun consumes about 600 million tons of matter per second, How much energy is that? Of this energy how much reaches the surface of the earth E=mc^2 I solved the first part, but how do I start the second?

I have a question about this known hypothetical situation. Einstein asserts that once the sun vanishes we would still receive light for 8 min. Then at almost/same time when the sky goes dark, the gravitational wave hits Earth and we would fall out of the earlier orbit around the sun. Some...

The radiation flux from the sun at the top of the Earth's atmosphere is 0.139 J cm-2 s-1 at normal incidence. The Earth is 1.50x108 km from the sun. Calculate: (a) the energy production in the sun in MeV/s (b) the rate of hydrogen consumption in g/s (c) how long hydrogen-burning can continue...

That's pretty much it. Is it perfectly spherical, or is it squashed like the Earth due to a rotation? Is it rotating through an axis perpendicular to the plane of the solar system? If yes, can we measure this using Doppler shift of spectral lines either side of the sun, or something like...

I used my telescope and a Solar filter to take a shot of the sun and on the bottom half of the circle (due to the mirrors inverting the image) there is a blue outline and on the other side is a red outline. Is this a display of the dopplar effect or just a coincidince?

If you were to measure the area of a sector that a planet would sweep out in one week around the sun. It would be the same no matter what time of the year it was. What conservation principle is this example demonstrating? Linear, angular or both? and why?

"in 4-D, the Earth orbits around the sun in a straight line" someone told me that in 4-D, the Earth actually orbits around the sun in a straight line, could someone try to explain to me how this is so? thank you

How do find the mass of the Sun using the following data: Planet r ... T Mercury 57.9... 0.241 Venus 108... 0.615 Earth 150... 1 Mars 228... 1.88 Jupiter 778 ... 11.9 Saturn 1,430... 29.5 Uranus 2,870... 84 Neptune 4,500... 165 Pluto...

Can we detect any coriolis forces induced from our circular orbit around the Sun ? We're going in a big circle so we should be able to detect some coriolis if we deviate from that circle - ie if we move around a bit instead of following a perfect circular path. Considering the Earth is...

I am in AP Physics and we just got done with Centripetal force and Universal Gravitation. I was wondering since for the planets to stay in motion they need to have the same force as the object they are orbiting around. Since a bigger mass means a bigger force, how does the Earth stay in motion...

Homework Statement This is for my Optics class: Given the radius of our planet, its temperature, and the distance to the Sun, estimate the temperature of the Sun (hint: use the Stephan-Boltzmann law). Homework Equations Radius of Earth \widetilde{=} 6,378.1 km Temperature of the...

Newton's Third Law of Motion: III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Photons in the sun on average travel outward, electrons and ions on average recoil inwards? Does Newton's third law come into play here? Thank you for help with my confusion.

Homework Statement The sun emits 3x1032J of energy every day. Assume it emits only yellow light (6x10-7m wavelength. a. What is the energy of each photon of yellow light? b. How many photons does the sun emit every day? Homework Equations E = hf The Attempt at a Solution So I think...

Homework Statement the problem asks to find the distance from the sun to a planet. the only information the question gives the the orbital period of 27 years and asks for the answer in km. Homework Equations c= (2)(pi)(r) The Attempt at a Solution assuming the planet revolves...

Homework Statement The Earth travels around the sun in a circle of radius 150 million km and does a complete cycle in about 365 days. Find its speed. Homework Equations v= d/t The Attempt at a Solution d = 1000m/1km x 150,000,000km = 1.5 x 10^11m There are 31,536,000 seconds in 1year. v =...

I'm trying to show that for certain combinations of altitude and inclination there will be periods of the year where a satellite has eclipse-free orbits. Using a satellite-centered celestial coordinate system, in which the orbit plane is the equator and the direction of Earth is fixed along the...

I can't understand why the sun moves across the ecliptic :( I've been searching for hours and I've found nothing more than "because of the Earth's revolution around the sun", so I'm assuming this is extremely obvious - but I can't understand it. I understand why the declination angle of the...

Could there be objects between Mercury and the Sun? Like, say, asteroids?

Homework Statement The sun is powered by fusion, with four protons fusing together to form a helium nucleus (two of the protons turn into neutrons) and, in the process, releasing a large amount of thermal energy. The process happens in several steps, not all at once. In one step, two protons...

This website gives a break down of the ten most abundant elements from spectrum analysis of the sun http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/961112a.html" Presumably this result is only valid for the surface/near surface of the sun. If there were any heavier elements present...

Magnetic Field of the Sun will Flip I believe some time in November if I am not mistaken. It happens about once every 11 years. I am currently monitoring sites like: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SWN/sw_dials.html http://www.srl.caltech.edu/ACE/ASC/DATA/level3/summaries.html To monitor the...

Does anyone know a good way to figure out where the sun is going to be around NYC on a specific day, throughout the day? I need to draw a diagram. I found a handy sun schedule on the U.S. Naval Observatory Astronomical Applications Department website, but I need more specific info than that...

Homework Statement In about 5 billion years, at the end of its lifetime, our sun will end up as a white dwarf, having about the same mass as it does now, but reduced to about 15,000 km in diameter.What will be its density at that stage? g/cm^3 Homework Equations D=m/v 4/3(3.14)r^3...

In 1916 Schwarzschild wrote down his famous metric to solve (or re-solve using a polar coordinate system) the precession of the perihelion of Mercury. The curvature of spacetime described by the Metric is for any non-rotating spherically symmetric mass. ds^2 = -(1-\frac{2M}{r})dt^2 +...

If a ship was traveling from afar toward our sun at 99.9999... C and skimmed the outer shell of the sun and continued on, would it burn up? From inside the ship, the trip through the shell might take a billionth or trillionth of a second, hardly enough time for the interior of the ship to heat...

I recall the non uniform distribution of magnetic fields is the reason sun spots occur. Why are sun spots more predominant about the equator as well?

Would this be valid for all other planets as well?

How long after the Sun becomes a white dwarf will it be until it becomes a black dwarf?