Our Stable Sun
No, I do not mean that Junior is cleaning up after the horses. Stable, as in, not changing easily. We have a sun that is rather constant, giving a reliable source of heat without going to extremes. Those hot and cold days are basically because of changes in weather and the orbit of Earth, not from wild solar activity.
For being so big and mostly empty, space is mighty dangerous. Our solar system was placed by our Creator in a special section, away from bursts of gamma rays that would destroy life. Our sun gets on the prod now and then, shooting out solar flares and such. We are protected (for now) with our own deflector shield and atmosphere, so those flares disrupt communications and such, but don't blast away the oceans or irradiate life to extinction.
I'm old enough to remember the television show Lost in Space (still syndicated on some services), and have been able to have fun with it on rerun stations. The original series ran from 1968-1968, and was set in "the future" (1997), with the Jupiter 2 heading out Alpha Centauri way. That is the closest star system to us, and the closest star is Proxima Centauri. It's a grumpy red dwarf that recently went haywire. Good thing the Robinson family never found their way to it. (Robot shouts, "Danger!" Danger", then emits showers of sparks.) Our Creator knew what he was doing when he designed Earth, the solar system, our galaxy, where he put us, and the universe itself.
 |
| Credits: NASA/SDO |
I'm old enough to remember the television show Lost in Space (still syndicated on some services), and have been able to have fun with it on rerun stations. The original series ran from 1968-1968, and was set in "the future" (1997), with the Jupiter 2 heading out Alpha Centauri way. That is the closest star system to us, and the closest star is Proxima Centauri. It's a grumpy red dwarf that recently went haywire. Good thing the Robinson family never found their way to it. (Robot shouts, "Danger!" Danger", then emits showers of sparks.) Our Creator knew what he was doing when he designed Earth, the solar system, our galaxy, where he put us, and the universe itself.
Astronomers recently detected an enormous but short-lived increase in radiation from the nearby star Proxima Centauri. This radiation burst, known as a flare, caused the star to become a thousand times brighter for ten seconds. Our sun also has flares, but those flares are much smaller. At the time of its peak brightness, the Proxima Centauri flare was ten times brighter (in the measured wavelengths) than even the largest flares emitted by our sun. This is another reminder of how our sun is especially designed for life on Earth.To find out what Meredith said and to read the rest of the article, click on "Stellar Superflare Reminder: Our Sun Is Special".
. . .
The lead scientist on the team, Meredith MacGregor, described how the flare could affect the nearby exoplanet: