The Sun’s Out!

7/24/05 – 7/30/05

By C. Zaitz

We are watching it. Every day for the past two weeks, groups of kids in AstroCamp at the Ensign Planetarium have been watching the sun. Clouds do not deter us and we revel in the heat. Each morning when Helios drives the sun in his bright chariot across the sky, we are there to marvel at it, to count its spots, to measure the shadows it creates. Some days we use safe solar telescopes, and some days we rely on satellites in space.

What’s so interesting about the sun? Lately we’ve wanted to curse the sun for drying out our lawns, for wilting our flowers and for making us so darned hot. And yet, what if the sun were out- really out? Out like a burned-out light bulb? Out like a snuffed candle? That’s what makes it interesting. We need it like a bee needs nectar, like a fire needs oxygen. We know it can burn us and change our cells into cancer, but it also grows juicy watermelons and plump ears of corn. It powers our weather and fuels the seasons. It herds the planets and melts the comets. We need it even though we know we are powerless against it. Scientists say it has already used up half its fuel. Someday in the very distant future it will go out. We study the sun to see what makes it tick, to try to understand it.

Every day the sun is different. Some days it’s quite spotty, and some days it is clear. Once in a while it spews enormous rivers of hot plasma into space. This energetic solar burp can fry satellites and power stations here on Earth, but it also gives us some of the most beautiful light shows in the sky- the Aurorae. Here in Michigan, we are lucky to occasionally see these Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). Thanks to the slower-than-light speed of the particles, we have about a day and a half advance notice of these shows. Seek out http://www.spaceweather.com on the internet if you are curious about the sun and the Northern Lights.

If the earth has gotten between you and the sun, that just means it’s night time. On July 27th, we can all use the hours before sunrise to see a pretty sight- the planet Mars some four degrees away from the last quarter moon. Though Mars and the moon won’t be rising until midnight, Venus still follows the sun in the evening twilight, and Jupiter is still guarding her from a little way southward.

Until next week, my friends, enjoy the view!