10 short questions The sun, The Planets and the Stars’ -C. Jones

How much does the sun weight?

          The sun is the central part of the universe. It is head of all the stars and planted of the universe. The weight of the earth is nearly 6,000 million tones. But the sun is 12, 80,000 times larger than the earth. So the sun is 3, 24,000 times heavier than the earth.

2.  What is the difference between a star and a planet?  (March 2007, October-06)

          The sun is a star and the stars are suns. These suns (stars) may have planets moving around them. But there is the basic difference between the stars and the planets. The stars shine by their own light, while Planets have little or no light of their own. The stars twinkle while the planets do not twinkle. We can not see them even with the help of the most powerful telescope.

3.  Mention two ways in which we depend on the sun.

          The sun is the source of all powers through which all the activities are going on upon the earth. The heat of the sun is essential for life. e.g. the stream engines run by coal in which the energy of sun is stored. Animal like sheep and oxen live on plants, green grass, which get their food from the sun. If the sun ceases to supply this food, we who live on flesh and vegetables would die of starvation. The clouds, flowers, etc. owe their existence in some way to the sun.

4.   Which planet is probably most similar to the earth?

          Venus is probably most similar to earth. It is almost as large as the earth. Its day is almost equal in the length to the day of earth. It has a very thick, cloudy atmosphere. It has seas and oceans as the earth has. Indeed, of all the planets, Venus is the one we should choose if we make up our minds to fly to another world.

5.   What must the surface of Mars be like?  (March 2006)

          Mars is known as the God of War or the red planet. It is about half the size of the earth. Being smaller it is also an older planet than the earth.  Mercury is probably a dead world, Mars a dying word. The atmosphere around Mars is very thin.  It has a very dry atmosphere and the larger parts of Mars consist of huge and sandy desert like the Sahara. There are no clouds to hide surface of the planet. So Mars is a very dry world.

6.   Which is farther from the sun, Venus or Jupiter?

          Jupiter is farther from the sun. Jupiter revolves round the sun at a distance of 483,000,000 miles, while Venus revolves round the sun at a distance of 67, 000, 000 miles

7.   The earth receives more heat and light than Saturn. How much more?

          The distance between the earth and the sun is about 93, 000, 000 miles while Saturn is 866 million miles far way from the sun. Thus the earth receives 90 times more heats and light than Saturn. 

8.   How many stars can we see without a telescope?

          Without a telescope we can see almost 2,500 stars on a clear night. (But with the help of powerful telescope we can see more than 1, 500, 000, 000 or beyond it.)

9.   If our nearest was fifty million miles away, how long would its light take to reach?

If our nearest was fifty million miles away, its light would take eight and a half year to reach us.

10. Why do not astronomers measure distances in miles?  (October-07)

          There are the great numbers of the stars are so far that we could not understand the rows of the figures which would result. Thus the astronomer do not measure the distance in mile. But the distance is measured in light-years.