"The Sun" (Part One)
By Jose Reyes
Us Earthlings take for granted many things and overlook our natural surroundings, we see the Sun rise and set everyday but neglect to take the time to learn a little about how important it is to our well being. The Sun and its miraculous energy, forms the basic foundation for life in our solar system, without the Sun there would be no chance at all. The interaction of the Sun with the process of Photosynthesis and the "Greenhouse Effect", creates the perfect atmosphere for all living organisms on earth, to breathe 24 hours a day. Also, all the beautiful colors we see in nature are transported, amazingly, by the particles of energy in the rays of Sun.
The Sun is ideal and safe for the composition of our Earth's atmosphere unlike the disastrous effects it has on some of the other planets in our solar system, but the Sun is not totally in fault here. The atmosphere in many of the other, life potential planets, just have the wrong combination of elements. Many of these planets could have had life on them in the past but unfortunately were bombarded by so many meteors and asteroids, large and small, that their atmospheres changed to the worse and distorted the delicate balance of elements for life to exist. The elements on these planets either contradict each other by clashing and disagreeing or they do not have enough oxygen or water for photosynthesis to occur. Another positive feature of the Sun is that it has the magnetic power to keep the planets in our solar system from floating away and disappearing into another solar system. Lets take a good look at this incredible "Star".
The Sun
Age: 4.5 Billions Years Old and enough energy to last another 5 billion years or more.
Diameter of the Sun: 863,040 miles or 1,392,000 kilometers.
Mass: 332,830 times the mass of the Earth.
Layers of the Sun
This immense Star is 73%
Hydrogen and about 25% Helium, the remaining 2% is composed of carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, neon, magnesium, silicon, sulfur, iron and over 50 other elements. 
The Sun also is better understood when explained through its layers and
atmospheres. First of all, you have the (Core).
Then the
surface (Photosphere),
then you enter the (Chromosphere)
which takes up little space, as you work yourself up into the next atmosphere (Corona),
only seen when there is a Total
Eclipse.
After the Corona
there is an invisible magnetic field (Magnetosphere
or Heliosphere) that
reaches up to and beyond the furthest planet of our Solar System, Pluto.
How the Sun Works
In the Core of the Sun, where the temperature reaches 27 Million degrees Fahrenheit, Solar power is manufactured. Solar energy is created there when 4 Protons (Hydrogen Nuclei) fuse together to form 1 Alpha Particle (Helium Nuclei). These particles of Helium reach the Photosphere through a process called Convection and take about 1 million years to surface. The Core also has an air pressure equivalent to about 340 millions times the Earth's air pressure.
Convection:
The transfer of
heat by an
automatic circulation driven by temperature gradients. Heated fluids are lower
in density so they rise. The cooled fluids have a higher density so they fall.
Heated fluid will rise to the top of a column made of hot gasses, radiate
heat away
and then fall to be re-heated,
rise and so on. The bright center of each cell is at the very top of a rising
column. These columns are about the same size or larger than our planet Earth.
The Magnetic Field of the Sun
The magnetic field explains all the activity you see on the Sun when looking through special telescopes. The magnetic field is shot throughout space disrupting the whole Solar system, with maximum to minimal damage. For more information Click Here
Faculae: Bright Hydrogen clouds that are formed just before Sun Spots develop.
Sunspots:
Are not entirely
understood yet and are located on the Photosphere. Sunspots are dark
colored dents on the photosphere with a temperature of about 7,000° Fahrenheit.
Solar
Flares: Flares
are bright filaments of hot helium gas that emerges from sunspot regions.
Solar
Eclipse: Is
only seen from Earth when the Moon aligns itself in a position that 
completely covers our view of the Sun. When this amazing event occurs, a
beautiful halo is seen around the Moon and the Corona is exposed. The Corona
is a highly structured region of plasma. The Corona is so hot that the Sun's
gravity can't even hold it.
Solar
Winds: The
plasma of the corona is shot out into space, carrying a magnetic field into
space by way of 
Solar
Winds, to form the
interplanetary magnetic field. These solar winds create an incredible phenomenon
on Earth called "The Northern Lights". When the deadly solar winds hit
the Earth's outer atmosphere it creates an Aurora effect with a fascinating
light show that lights up the night skies with an array of beautiful colorful
shapes. (illustration and video Click
Here)
Prominences: Prominences
are dense clouds of material suspended above the surface of the Sun by loops of
magnetic field. Prominences and filaments are actually the same things except
that prominences are seen projecting out above the limb, or edge, of the Sun.
Filaments
and Plage: Filaments
are dark, thread-like features seen in the red light of hydrogen (H-alpha).
These are dense, somewhat cooler, clouds of material that are suspended above
the solar surface by loops of magnetic field. Plage
are also associated
with concentrations of magnetic fields and form a part of the network of bright
emissions.
Spicules:
Spicules are
small, jet-like eruptions seen throughout the chromospheric network. They last
but a few minutes but in the process eject material off of the surface and
outward into the hot corona at speeds of 20 to 30 km/s.
