The Sun

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Recommended: Stars formation and existence

A star is an orb made up of hydrogen and helium. Stars are formed when a gravitational disturbance, such as galaxies colliding or a supernova explosion, causes molecular gas clouds to collapse. The concentration of gases generates heat and momentum from particle movement in the cloud produces a spinning effect. After approximately one hundred million years, core temperature and pressure reach levels that are sufficient to ignite nuclear fusion, which is what defines a star. A star’s properties are determined by its mass. Red dwarf stars, the least massive, use small amounts of energy over a very long period of time and scientists estimate that they can live for ten trillion years. The most massive stars, Supergiants, may live only a few million years. Most stars, including the Sun, are in the main sequence phase of their existence (Cain, 2009).
The Sun is Earth’s star and without its energy life on Earth would not exist. Like all stars, the Sun is a ball of gas made up of approximately ninety-two percent hydrogen and eight percent helium held together by the star’s own gravity. The Sun has a core temperature of about twenty-seven million degrees Fahrenheit. Spacecraft are used to collect information about the Sun, like Genesis which retrieved particles of solar wind and returned them to Earth for study (Overview, n.d.).
Physical properties of the Sun, and other space objects such as planets and galaxies, are determined using scientific and physical laws to study electromagnetic radiation. An object’s mass is determined by investigating its gravitational impact on other objects in space using Newton’s laws of motion and gravity. Diameter is determined by measuring angular size and using geometry to find t...

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...Ra was the Sun god of ancient Egyptians. Helios, the Sun god of the Greeks, was similar to Ra. The early Persian cult of Mirtha honored the rising Sun every day. Sun worship has also been noted in texts of Babylonian and Asian religious cults. In North America, Great Plains Native Americans believed the Sun to be a manifestation of the Great Spirit. For centuries, the Sun Dance has been performed by young warriors to honor the Sun. The dance lasts several days and involves, under the supervision of a shaman, prayer and the ceremonial chopping down of a tree that was painted and propped up at the dancing ground. Offerings were also made to the Great Spirit. The Sun dance was also a trial for the young, inexperience warriors. The Sun dance is a ritual in Native American culture today as is the honoring of Ra as the Sun god in Egyptian cults (Wigington, n.d.).

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