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Geography 5 book notes (The Earth-Sun System (The sun's surface is…

- - - - An almost incomprehensible cluster of stars, dust, and gases surrounded by space.
    - - The distance that light travels in 1 year.
      - A light-year is equal to 9.5 trillion kilometers (6 trillion miles).
      - Approximately light travels at the amazing speed of 298,000 kilometers per second (186,000 miles per second).
  - - - A phenomena that occurs when heavenly bodies surround a particular star because of the star's dominant mass and gravity.
    - - The attractive force that one body has for another.
      - The greater the mass (The amount of matter a body has) the greater the gravitational pull it will exert on other bodies will become.
    - - A celestial body in orbit around the sun, with sufficient gravitational attraction to overcome rigid body forces,has a nearly sphercal shape, and has cleared the neighborhood around it's orbit.
  - - - Although these planets are essentially giant balls of un-tred-able gas, they do possess a small solid core at their center
    - - Smaller rocky bodies(bodies with a diameter of less than 800 kilometers[500 mi]) trapped by the sun's gravitational pull.
        
        Comets and meteors would fit this bill.
        
        Comets
        
        Reasonably small interstellar bodies made up of a head of solid fragments held together by ice and a tail composed of gases which can be millions of miles long.
        
        Meteors
        
        What a meteorite is called before it hits the Earth's surface.
        
        Shooting stars fit this bill too as long as it does not strike the Earth's surface.
- - - - Our planets size, distance from the sun, rotation around the sun+our planets axis, and composition of our atmosphere+surface all greatly affect the amount of solar energy thats received to sustain life
  - - - Our distance from the sun makes any effects from these close encounters with the sun insignificant.in regards to our planets climate and seasons.
  - - - What we see as the sun's surface(The DENSEST layer)
    - - A thin layer of gas above the photosphere, it appears reddish in color.
    - - Outermost layer of the sun's surface(solar wind or arms).
        
        Unlike solar radiation(which moves at the speed of light) solar winds go at about 400 kilometers(250 miles) per second and take around four days to reach Earth.
        
        Solar winds are prevented from doing damage to Earth's surface thanks to its magnetic field, however, electronics, orbiting satellites, and signals may be disrupted or completely disabled.
        
        When making contact with the Earth's magnetic field the solar wind is "repulsed" away from the planet and instead is forced to circle it. The ions in the outer atmosphere reacting to these solar winds give rise to the northern(aurora borealis) and southern(aurora australis) lights.
      - Sunspots, cooler(1,500C to 2,000CC[2,700F to 3,600F]) regions on the sun's surface, are vital indicators towards solar activity occurring on the sun's surface and the intensity of coming solar winds..
        
        Sunspots also may/or may not indirectly influence the weather with more sunspots translating to cooler weathers and less sunspots translating to warmer weathers.
- - - - This energy travels through space at the speed of light (since that's kind of what it is)and takes about 8.3 minutes to reach Earth
      - Around 9% of these light-waves are invisible to the human eye, these waves consist of X-rays, gamma rays, and ultra-violet rays, these in turn can do bodily harm to humans if over exposure was to occur.
        
        Collectively these light waves are classified as shortwave radiation.
        
        Gamma rays+Gamma rays
        
        Used in diagnostic health care and in transportation security checks
      - 41% of these light-waves however, ARE visible and form the Visible Light Spectrum(visible light rays), these wavelength bands of visible light are often collectively known as ROYGBIV and on average range from 0.4 to 0.7 micrometers in wavelength on the light-wave scale.
        
        Any wavelenght exceeding 0.7 micrometers becomes invisible to human vision, however they can still be sensed by human skin(often as heat). and include such things as infrared, thermal Infrared(feeling heat becomes a thing here), {microwaves, TV signals, and radio waves}.these last three in particular fall into the category of very long wavelengths.
        
        Collectively these light waves are classified as longwave radiation.
        
        Radio waves
        
        Television, Radio Broadcasts, Cell phone connections
        
        Microwaves
        
        Used to transmit information
        
        Radars
        
        Infrared(general)
        
        The Predator's visor
  - - - Of course, for the other planets the value of their "constant" is obviously different
      - Although varying terrestrial and cosmic phenomena can influence the strength and intensity of solar wind (like how close Earth gets to the sun during its orbit or how frequent sunspots are seen on the suns surface etc...), these solar winds ultimately have extremely minimal actual effects if any on our planets temperature(like 0.2% at it's highest).
- - - - The phenomena of day and night + seasons is attributed to this counter-clockwise rotation
        
        The Earth makes approximately 365(.25) rotations on its axis with every revolution it makes around the sun
        
        The ".25" is the reason why every four years we add an extra day to the year(February 29th), it's difficulty to manage, in regards to mathematics, thus calls for the creation of the so called leap year.
      - On Earth we would not be able to perceive the rotation of the planet, having no references to base our observation on, other than the movement of our sun(as would be demonstrated when flashing a flashlight on a slowly spinning globe).
      - Fun Fact: Earth's seasons are actually reversed in regards to either side of the Equator(Ex: When it is winter in North America it is summer in Australia, etc...).
        
        Oddly, in regards to the Northern hemisphere, summer in the U.S. would mean that the Earth is actually farthest away from the Sun(July 4th); likewise, winter in the U.S. would position the Earth closest to the sun(January 3rd).
    - - If this object finds itself near the North and South poles it's linear velocity(distance) will be substantially less than that of an object positioned near or on the equator,
    - - The Earth's planetary tilt however, is not perpendicular(perfect 90 degrees) to this plane; in fact it's tilt positions the Earth's axis at an approximate inclination of 23.5 degrees from being perpendicular to this plane.
        
        A planetary characteristic of Earth known as the Parallelism of the Axis maintains our understanding that as Earth revolves around the Sun, the planetary axis of our planet remains parallel to all of it's former positions.
        
        Therefore the ends of the Northern and Southern axis points will ALWAYS face the same stretch of space(Ex: The North Pole will ALWAYS face the Northern Star, Polaris, since the Earth's northern axis points directly towards it) in respect to the stars outside our solar system.
        
        Although the Earth's planetary inclination and solar orbit may seem constant, that may not always be the case as these factors are subject to change with the passing of time.
        
        In time the Earth is subject to wobble from it's 23.5 degree inclination and, in addition, Earth's orbit around the sun may not always remain circular and may take on a more elliptical form(an occurrence that has been calculated to happen every thousand of years or so).
        
        The Milankovitch cycle is a term used by climatologists to describe changes in climate and is based on the research of the 1940s Serbian astronomer Milutin Milankovitch, who's studys focused on the the pinpointing of the cyclical changes of the Earth's positioning, rotation, and inclination.
        
        Time dilation camera imagery of the stars shows that the northern star remains in the center because it is directly above the North Pole and thus directly in the direction of the northern Axis: The stars have not moved relative to Earth, but rotation moves Earth positions relative to the stars.