The Sun is a dominant object in the sky during the day. Its presence is seen and also felt by everyone around the world. Looking into the sky, one can see the sun as the only bright object. Because of this, the sun has fascinated humans for several thousands of years. Up to this day, scientists are still incapable of explaining some of the phenomena occurring in the sun. The true form of the sun cannot be seen through the naked eye. Observing the sun without any assistance is very dangerous. Looking directly to sun has proven to cause temporary blindness; much worse to this is using a conventional telescope.
This can cause serious damage. To be able to observe the sun, a special kind of telescope which contains filters is used. These filters block excessive brightness to reveal the true form of the sun. The true form of the sun is a massive ball of fire that produces intense light. The sun has several spots called sunspots (“Sunspot”). These are dark regions found on the surface of the sun, which is the photosphere. This region has a lower temperature than the other regions of the sun. These regions exhibit high magnetic fields.
Due to its tremendous magnetic field, sunspots can cause solar flares—explosions on the surface of the sun which sends radiation to space. The sun’s activity is on its sunspot cycle. More sunspots mean that the sun is active (“Sunspot”). According to the solar observation, the sun is in its minimum state. The sun also has bright spots called faculae (“Facula”). Contrary to sunspots, faculae are produced by the magnetic field lines of the sunspots. Solar faculae make the sun look brighter (“Facula”). The sun has a shade of increasing intensity as it approaches the center.
The less intense region at the disk of the sun is due to a phenomenon called limb darkening (“Limb Darkening”). The center of the sun is the brightest and has the highest temperature. Moving towards the outer disk, the sun’s brightness and temperature decreases. This phenomenon is usually used by researchers to determine the temperature of the photosphere of the sun (“Limb Darkening”). The sun has been a part of human living. Without the sun, life would not exist. Plants utilize the sun’s energy in order to live.Earth will be a cold barren waste land without the sun.
Work Cited
“Facula. ” Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 6 November 2008 <http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/200085/facula>. “Limb Darkening. ” Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 6 November 2008 <http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/341194/limb-darkening>. “Sunspot. ” Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 6 November 2008 <http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/574081/sunspot>/