Although the Sun is about 93 million miles away from Earth, the various complex processes and activities that it undergoes can still affect the Earth and engage scientists. During the Sun’s eleven year cycle, scientists found that there is a constant period of activity that occurs roughly in the same intervals. Changes in the activity of the Sun will rise to a maximum level in eleven years, then follwed by a period of minimal activity. During this period of maximum [...]

A terrestrial planet is a planet which has solid surfaces and is primarily composed of silicate racks and/or metals. There are 4 known terrestrial planets in our solar system – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, which are all inner planets and one terrestrial dwarf planet, Ceres, located in the asteroid belt. These planets share similar characteristics such as proximity to the soon, few or no moons, absence of planetary rings such as Saturn’s, relatively weaker magnetic fields and closely spaced [...]

Photo by: Mbz1 Creative Commons Tides are the periodic fluctuations of large bodies of water. They are caused by the gravitational interaction between the Earth and the Moon in what is generally called tidal forces. Although tidal changes may occur as a result of other factors like the Moon’s altitude and distance, the positions of the sun and the Earth and the depth of ocean floors and coastal topography.

For a period of around 5 to ten minutes, the surface of the sun gets bathed in a burst of energy. These bursts come forth with great consistency and are highly energetic regular fixtures of our Sun. These plasma waves appear as dark tubes on photographs and are known as solar spicules.

The polar opposite of the Sun’s solar maximum period is the solar minimum. In the Sun’s eleven year cycle, the solar minimum is the period when there is least solar activity, as contrasted to the solar maximum, when solar activity is at its peak. It is during this period that the occurrence of sunspots, coronal mass ejections, and solar flares decreases in frequency; sometimes not occurring for days on end. The date of the minimum can be determined about six [...]

Sunsets are usually associated with the color red and in some cases, can be seen with a tinge of orange. Why is the sunset red? Sunlight is composed of various colors of light, with each carrying a different wavelength. As the Sun sets, more red colored light is scattered towards the direction of the Earth compared to say, blue or green because of aerosols in the lower levels of the atmosphere. So why then is the sky not red when [...]

A Trojan, in Astronomy, is a minor planet or moon that shares an orbit with a larger planet or satellite but does not collide with the larger planet because while it orbits, it stays safely in what is called as the Lagrangian points. In theory, there are also Trojan planets that may reside at Trojan points.

In science, sunlight may be defined as the total frequency spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation that is emitted by the Sun. On earth, the atmosphere filters the sunlight before it touches the surface. When the Sun can be seen in the horizon, there is visible evidence of its radiation. This is commonly known as sunlight or daylight. When the Sun can radiate freely to the earth without clouds obstructing it, sunshine is experienced. It is a blend of radiant heat [...]

The Sun is not a constant, unmoving mass of plasma and energy. It is constantly active, sometimes releasing sudden amounts of energy and displaying different kinds of solar activity. These patterns of activity are believed to be driven by the surface magnetism of the Sun, underneath which rotation and convective flows arise. The amount of solar activity is sometimes associated with the number of sunspots, or cooler, darker, regions on the Sun’s surface. Though different kinds of solar activity are [...]

Everybody knows that the path of the Sun is from east to west. It rises from the east and then sets on the west. This cycle will go on and on every day. But does it always follow the exact same path every day? Does the axis of our planet have any significance with the path the Sun takes? Does it also have any impact on why there are four seasons in a year? The Sun is such a powerful [...]