Tag Archives: Solar System: Sun

The Ranking System of Solar Flares

Solar flares are solar storms and explosions that release ultraviolet light, x-rays, energy, and very fast, charged particles. They are categorized into classes based on their strength. The classes ranked from smallest to biggest solar flares are: A, B, C, M, and X. Each class increases 10-fold in energy and has a subscale that goesContinue reading “The Ranking System of Solar Flares” Continue reading

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The Tides of Mont-Saint-Michel

As many know, the Moon causes the tides to occur all over our planet. But those same people may not know the place that has the largest change in high and low tides. Said place is an islet and commune called Mont-Saint-Michel. Off the coast of Normandy, France, it has an accessible walkway to itsContinue reading “The Tides of Mont-Saint-Michel” Continue reading

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Ancient Interpretation of Solar Eclipses

In ancient Iraq, it was believed that a solar eclipse meant something awful was going to happen to the king or ruler. Ancient Mesopotamian astronomers could accurately determine when an eclipse would occur. When a solar eclipse was projected to happen, the court and priests would prepare for this event by planting a substitute kingContinue reading “Ancient Interpretation of Solar Eclipses” Continue reading

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The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope!

From Earth, the Sun appears to be just a glowing yellow orb. However, the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii has captured new images of the Sun that reveal its violent and explosive nature. This massive four-meter telescope has the technological capabilities that are necessary to better understand the Sun’s magnetic field and outer […] Continue reading

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What’s up with the tropics?

Latitude and longitude coordinates are seen everywhere; they’re immensely useful for marking geographic location and helping with navigation. The system is simple enough: latitude is distance north or south from the equator and longitude is distance east or west from the Prime Meridian. But what are the Tropics of Cancer and of Capricorn that areContinue reading “What’s up with the tropics?” Continue reading

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The Astronomy behind Astrology

While astrology is widely disproven as a form of science in our modern age, it has its origins in the beginnings of computational astronomy. As explained by David Lindberg in his book The Beginnings of Western Science, “By the end of the fifth century B.C., Babylonian celestial divination had expanded to embrace horoscopic astrology, whichContinue reading “The Astronomy behind Astrology” Continue reading

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Solar Flare vs Solar Prominence

I obviously can’t speak for anyone else, but I whole-heartedly believed that the beautiful loops of material that we sometimes see images and videos of on the Sun were included in the term ‘solar flare.’ As I looked into it, I came to find that solar flares and solar prominences (the ‘loops’) are in fact … Continue reading Solar Flare vs Solar Prominence Continue reading

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The Future of the Sun and What It Means for Earth

Right now, the Sun is about halfway through its main sequence stage. It has always intrigued me how the Sun will evolve once it is past this phase. How will the Sun change? What will happen to Earth and the other planets? In approximately 5.4 billion years, the Sun will have exhausted all of its […] Continue reading

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Shadow Bands!

If you’re like me, you have probably never heard of Shadow Bands. Shadow bands are a phenomenon that accompany total solar eclipses and occur just before and after totality, appearing as lines of alternating lines of dark and light moving … Continue reading Continue reading

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Everyday is SUNday

The Sun is the single most important object in our solar system. It makes up over 99% of the mass of the solar system, exerts gravitational force over the whole […] Continue reading

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