Mysteries and Miracles of our Sun

However its rotation takes 243 Earth days, making a day longer than a year (“Planet Venus Facts”)! Other than Uranus, Venus is the only planet to rotate from East to West (“Planet Venus Facts”). Venus’s atmosphere is extremely dense (Feather and Zike 77). Many of the clouds surrounding the small planet are composed mainly of sulfuric acid (“Planet Venus facts”). The air itself is 96% carbon dioxide and oxygen has not been detected and the pressure on the surface is 92 times that of Earth’s atmosphere (Coffey, “Atmosphere of Venus”).

28 Apr. 2014. "Ask an Astronomer." Cool Cosmos. Infrared, n.d.

Web. 22/09/2013. http://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/rhessi2/home/mission/science/overview-of-solar-flares/ 2) ESA Space. "Space Science" What are solar flares. esa, .

It is also one of the largest volcanoes in the Solar System with a diameter 370 miles, “wide enough to cover the state of New Mexico.” (Facts and Info about Red Planet). Like Earth, Mars also has canyons, including the Valles Marineris which was formed mostly by the pulling of Mars’ crust. Some canyons in the System are as wide as 60 miles. (Mars: Facts and Info about Red Planet). We have also learned a lot about Mars’ make up from information gathered on missions.

Web. 18 Dec. 2013. http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/weather.html "Space Weather, Solar Flares & Sun Storms: Latest News." Space.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

One Jovian year (the time it takes to orbit the sun), take 11.9 earth years! Jupiter is a gas planet with a possible chance of a core. On the outside of Jupiter, what we can see, is its atmosphere. Jupiter’s atmosphere is layered. It contains hydrogen, helium (a lot like the sun’s atmosphere), gasses, and clouds.

28 Apr. 2014. . "Coronal Mass Ejections." NASA's Cosmicopia. N.p., n.d.

29 Nov. 2013. Sharp, Nigel(NOAO), et al. "Astronomy Picture of the Day." 21 Oct. 2012. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121021.html. Photograph.

The next day, October 28, at 1110 UTC, the Sun emitted a massive X17.2 solar flare, which registered third all-time in recorded history. This flare, which came from sunspot 486—at this point, also observable from Earth under proper viewing conditions—also launched a coronal mass ejection (CME) towards Earth at a blazing speed of 2125 km/s, and consequently, an S3 solar radiation storm resulted (Phillips, 28 Oct. and 30 Oct.). However, due to the strength of this event, the SOHO satellite was unable to calculate an accurate density of the flare and CME (Phillips, 28 Oct.). This storm, known as a proton storm, wreaked havoc on the aviation industry, as planes were guided to fly at around 25,000 feet as opposed to 35,000 feet due to radiation exposure concerns (Phillips, 30 Oct; Young). This inconvenience caused higher fuel consumption amounts and thus a higher cost for airlines to operate during this period.

Did you know that the sun’s core can reach about 15 million degrees Celsius? This bright star has many significant happenings. These interesting occurrences include sunspots, solar winds, coronal mass ejections, and solar flares. Sunspots are cool, dark-colored regions of the photosphere related to a shifting magnetic field inside the sun. However, sunspots are only dark in our perspective.