Video Storm Rage

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The Sun

The Sun (Latin: Sol) is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a medium size star. The Earth and other matter (including other planets, asteroids, meteoroids, comets and dust) orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.8% of the solar system’s mass. Energy from the Sun, in the form of sunlight and heat, supports almost all life on Earth via photosynthesis, and drives the Earth’s climate and weather.

The surface composition of the Sun consists of hydrogen (about 74% of its mass, or 92% of its volume), helium (about 24-25% of mass, 7% of volume), and trace quantities of other elements, including Fe, Ni, O, Si, S, Mg, C, Ne, Ca, and Cr.^[10] The Sun has a spectral class of G2V. G2 implies that it has a surface temperature of approximately 5,780 K, giving it a white color which, because of atmospheric scattering, appears yellow as seen from the surface of the Earth. This is a subtractive effect, as the preferential scattering of blue photons (causing the sky color) removes enough blue light to leave a residual reddishness that is perceived as yellow. (When low enough in the sky, the Sun appears orange or red, due to this scattering.)

Its spectrum contains lines of ionized and neutral metals as well as very weak hydrogen lines. The V (Roman five) suffix indicates that the Sun, like most stars, is a main sequence star. This means that it generates its energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei into helium and is in a state of hydrostatic equilibrium, neither contracting nor expanding over time. There are more than 100 million G2 class stars in our galaxy. Once regarded as a small and relatively insignificant star, the Sun is now known to be brighter than 85% of the stars in the galaxy, most of which are red dwarfs.

The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of approximately 26,000 light-years from the galactic center, completing one revolution in about 225–250 million years. Its approximate orbital speed is 220 kilometers per second, plus or minus 20 km/s. This is equivalent to about one light-year every 1,400 years, and about one AU every 8 days. These measurements of galactic distance and speed are as accurate as we can get given our current knowledge, but will change as we learn more.

The Sun is currently traveling through the Local Interstellar Cloud in the low-density Local Bubble zone of diffuse high-temperature gas, in the inner rim of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, between the larger Perseus and Sagittarius arms of the galaxy. Of the 50 nearest stellar systems within 17 light years from the Earth, the Sun ranks 4th in absolute magnitude as a fourth magnitude star (M=4.83).

Atmosphere

The parts of the Sun above the photosphere are referred to collectively as the solar atmosphere. They can be viewed with telescopes operating across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio through visible light to gamma rays, and comprise five principal zones: the temperature minimum, the chromosphere, the transition region, the corona, and the heliosphere. The heliosphere, which may be considered the tenuous outer atmosphere of the Sun, extends outward past the orbit of Pluto to the heliopause, where it forms a sharp shock front boundary with the interstellar medium. The chromosphere, transition region, and corona are much hotter than the surface of the Sun. The reason why has not been conclusively proven; evidence suggests that Alfvén waves may have enough energy to heat the corona.^[31]

The coolest layer of the Sun is a temperature minimum region about 500 km above the photosphere, with a temperature of about 4,000 K. This part of the Sun is cool enough to support simple molecules such as carbon monoxide and water, which can be detected by their absorption spectra.

Above the temperature minimum layer is a thin layer about 2,000 km thick, dominated by a spectrum of emission and absorption lines. It is called the chromosphere from the Greek root chroma, meaning color, because the chromosphere is visible as a colored flash at the beginning and end of total eclipses of the Sun. The temperature in the chromosphere increases gradually with altitude, ranging up to around 100,000 K near the top.

Above the chromosphere is a transition region in which the temperature rises rapidly from around 100,000 K to coronal temperatures closer to one million K. The increase is because of a phase transition as helium within the region becomes fully ionized by the high temperatures. The transition region does not occur at a well-defined altitude. Rather, it forms a kind of nimbus around chromospheric features such as spicules and filaments, and is in constant, chaotic motion. The transition region is not easily visible from Earth’s surface, but is readily observable from space by instruments sensitive to the far ultraviolet portion of the spectrum.

The corona is the extended outer atmosphere of the Sun, which is much larger in volume than the Sun itself. The corona merges smoothly with the solar wind that fills the solar system and heliosphere. The low corona, which is very near the surface of the Sun, has a particle density of 10¹⁴–10¹⁶ m⁻³. (Earth’s atmosphere near sea level has a particle density of about 2×10²⁵ m⁻³.) The temperature of the corona is several million kelvin. While no complete theory yet exists to account for the temperature of the corona, at least some of its heat is known to be from magnetic reconnection.

The heliosphere extends from approximately 20 solar radii (0.1 AU) to the outer fringes of the solar system. Its inner boundary is defined as the layer in which the flow of the solar wind becomes superalfvénic—that is, where the flow becomes faster than the speed of Alfvén waves. Turbulence and dynamic forces outside this boundary cannot affect the shape of the solar corona within, because the information can only travel at the speed of Alfvén waves. The solar wind travels outward continuously through the heliosphere, forming the solar magnetic field into a spiral shape, until it impacts the heliopause more than 50 AU from the Sun. In December 2004, the Voyager 1 probe passed through a shock front that is thought to be part of the heliopause. Both of the Voyager probes have recorded higher levels of energetic particles as they approach the boundary.

Saturn

Saturn (pronounced /ˈsætɚn/) is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Along with the planets Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune it is classified as a gas giant (also known as a Jovian planet, after the planet Jupiter). It was named after the Roman god Saturnus, equated to the Greek Kronos (the Titan father of Zeus) and the Babylonian Ninurta. Saturn’s symbol represents the god’s sickle (Unicode: ♄). The day in the week Saturday gets its name from the planet.

The planet Saturn is composed of hydrogen, with small proportions of helium and trace elements.^[10] The interior consists of a small core of rock and ice, surrounded by a thick layer of metallic hydrogen and a gaseous outer layer. The outer atmosphere is generally bland in appearance, although long-lived features can appear. Wind speeds on Saturn can reach 1,800 km/h, significantly faster than those on Jupiter. Saturn has a planetary magnetic field intermediate in strength between that of Earth and the more powerful field around Jupiter.

Saturn has a prominent system of rings, consisting mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. Sixty known moons orbit the planet. Titan, Saturn’s largest and the Solar System’s second largest moon (after Jupiter’s Ganymede), is larger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon in the Solar System to possess a significant atmosphere.

Neptune

Neptune (pronounced /ˈnɛptjuːn/) is the eighth and farthest planet from the Sun in the Solar System. It is the fourth largest planet by diameter, and the third largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 Earth masses and less dense. The planet is named after the Roman god of the sea. Its astronomical symbol is , a stylized version of the god Neptune’s trident.

Discovered on September 23, 1846, Neptune was the first planet found by mathematical prediction rather than regular observation. Unexpected changes in the orbit of Uranus led astronomers to deduce the gravitational perturbation of an unknown planet. Neptune was found within a degree of the predicted position. The moon Triton was found shortly thereafter, but none of the planet’s other 12 moons were discovered before the 20th century. Neptune has been visited by only one spacecraft, Voyager 2, which flew by the planet on August 25, 1989.

Neptune’s atmosphere is primarily composed of hydrogen and helium along with traces of methane. The methane in the atmosphere, in part, accounts for the planet’s blue appearance. Neptune also has the strongest winds of any planet in the solar system, measured as high as 2,100 kilometres per hour (1,300 mph). At the time of the 1989 Voyager 2 flyby, its southern hemisphere possessed a Great Dark Spot comparable to the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. Neptune’s temperature at its cloud tops is usually close to −218 °C (55.1 K), one of the coldest in the solar system, due to its great distance from the Sun. The temperature in Neptune’s centre is about 7,000 °C (7,270 K), which is comparable to the Sun’s surface and similar to most other known planets. Neptune has a faint and fragmented ring system, which may have been detected during the 1960s but was only indisputably confirmed by Voyager 2.

Uranus

Uranus (pronounced /ˈjʊərənəs/ or /jʊˈreɪnəs/) is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third-largest and fourth-most massive planet in the solar system. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky (Uranus, Οὐρανός), the father of Kronos (Saturn) and grandfather of Zeus (Jupiter). Uranus was the first planet discovered in modern times. Though it is visible to the naked eye like the five classical planets, it was never recognized as a planet by ancient observers due to its dimness. Sir William Herschel announced its discovery on March 13, 1781, expanding the known boundaries of the solar system for the first time in modern history. This was also the first discovery of a planet made using a telescope.

Uranus and Neptune have internal and atmospheric compositions different from those of the larger gas giants Jupiter and Saturn. As such, astronomers sometimes place them in a separate category, the “ice giants“. Uranus’ atmosphere, while similar to Jupiter and Saturn in being composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, contains a higher proportion of “ices” such as water, ammonia and methane, along with the usual traces of hydrocarbons. It is the coldest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System, with a minimum temperature of 49 K (−224 °C). It has a complex, layered cloud structure, with water thought to make up the lowest clouds, and methane thought to make up the uppermost layer of clouds.

Like the other giant planets, Uranus has a ring system, a magnetosphere, and numerous moons. The Uranian system has a unique configuration among the planets because its axis of rotation is tilted sideways, nearly into the plane of its revolution about the Sun; its north and south poles lie where most other planets have their equators. Seen from Earth, Uranus’ rings can appear to circle the planet like an archery target and its moons revolve around it like the hands of a clock, though in 2007 and 2008 the rings appear edge-on. In 1986, images from Voyager 2 showed Uranus as a virtually featureless planet in visible light without the cloud bands or storms associated with the other giants. However, terrestrial observers have seen signs of seasonal change and increased weather activity in recent years as Uranus approached its equinox. The wind speeds on Uranus can reach 250 meters per second.

Jupiter

Jupiter (pronounced /ˈdʒuːpɨtɚ/) is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is two and a half times as massive as all of the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter, along with Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, is classified as a gas giant. Together, these four planets are sometimes referred to as the Jovian planets, where Jovian is the adjectival form of Jupiter.

The planet was known by astronomers of ancient times and was associated with the mythology and religious beliefs of many cultures. The Romans named the planet after the Roman god Jupiter. When viewed from Earth, Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude of −2.8, making it the third brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and Venus. (However, at certain points in its orbit, Mars can briefly exceed Jupiter’s brightness.)

The planet Jupiter is primarily composed of hydrogen with a small proportion of helium; it may also have a rocky core of heavier elements under high pressure. Because of its rapid rotation, Jupiter’s shape is that of an oblate spheroid (it possesses a slight but noticeable bulge around the equator). The outer atmosphere is visibly segregated into several bands at different latitudes, resulting in turbulence and storms along their interacting boundaries. A prominent result is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm that is known to have existed since at least the seventeenth century. Surrounding the planet is a faint planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere. There are also at least 63 moons, including the four large moons called the Galilean moons that were first discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610. Ganymede, the largest of these moons, has a diameter greater than that of the planet Mercury.

Jupiter has been explored on several occasions by robotic spacecraft, most notably during the early Pioneer and Voyager flyby missions and later by the Galileo orbiter. The latest probe to visit Jupiter was the Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft in late February 2007. The probe used the gravity from Jupiter to increase its speed and adjust its trajectory toward Pluto, thereby saving years of travel. Future targets for exploration include the possible ice-covered liquid ocean on the Jovian moon Europa.

Earth

Earth (pronounced /ˈɝːθ/) is the third planet from the Sun and is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in both diameter and mass. It is also referred to as the Earth, Planet Earth, the World, and Terra.

Home to millions of species, including humans, Earth is the only place in the universe where life is known to exist. Scientific evidence indicates that the planet formed 4.54 billion years ago, and life appeared on its surface within a billion years. Since then, Earth’s biosphere has significantly altered the atmosphere and other abiotic conditions on the planet, enabling the proliferation of aerobic organisms as well as the formation of the ozone layer which, together with Earth’s magnetic field, blocks harmful radiation, permitting life on land.

Earth’s outer surface is divided into several rigid segments, or tectonic plates, that gradually migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years. About 71% of the surface is covered with salt-water oceans, the remainder consisting of continents and islands; liquid water, necessary for all known life, is not known to exist on any other planet’s surface. Earth’s interior remains active, with a thick layer of relatively solid mantle, a liquid outer core that generates a magnetic field, and a solid iron inner core.

Earth interacts with other objects in outer space, including the Sun and the Moon. At present, Earth orbits the Sun once for every roughly 366.26 times it rotates about its axis. This length of time is a sidereal year, which is equal to 365.26 solar days.^[15] The Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted 23.4° away from the perpendicular to its orbital plane,^[16] producing seasonal variations on the planet’s surface with a period of one tropical year (365.24 solar days). Earth’s only known natural satellite, the Moon, which began orbiting it about 4.53 billion years ago, provides ocean tides, stabilizes the axial tilt and gradually slows the planet’s rotation. A cometary bombardment during the early history of the planet played a role in the formation of the oceans. Later, asteroid impacts caused significant changes to the surface environment.

Venus

Venus (pronounced /ˈvinəs/) is the second-closest planet to the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. It is the brightest natural object in the night sky, except for the Moon, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6. Because Venus is an inferior planet, from Earth it never appears to venture far from the Sun: its elongation reaches a maximum of 47.8°. Venus reaches its maximum brightness shortly before sunrise or shortly after sunset, for which reason it is often called the Morning Star or the Evening Star.

Classified as a terrestrial planet, it is sometimes called Earth’s “sister planet”, for the two are similar in size, gravity, and bulk composition. Venus is covered with an opaque layer of highly reflective clouds of sulfuric acid, preventing its surface from being seen from space in visible light; this was a subject of great speculation until some of its secrets were revealed by planetary science in the twentieth century. Venus has the densest atmosphere of all the terrestrial planets, consisting mostly of carbon dioxide, as it has no carbon cycle to lock carbon back into rocks and surface features, nor organic life to absorb it in biomass. It has become so hot that the earth-like oceans the young Venus is believed to have possessed have totally evaporated, leaving a dusty dry desertscape with many slab-like rocks. The best hypothesis is that the evaporated water vapor has dissociated and, with the lack of a planetary magnetic field, the hydrogen has been swept into interplanetary space by the solar wind. The atmospheric pressure at the planet’s surface is 92 times that of the Earth.

Venus’s surface has been mapped in detail only in the last 20 years, by Project Magellan. It shows evidence of extensive volcanism, and the sulfur in the atmosphere is taken by some experts to show that there has been some recent volcanism, but it is an enigma as to why no evidence of lava flow accompanies any of the visible caldera. It is also noteworthy that there are a surprisingly low number of impact craters. This demonstrates that the surface is relatively young, approximately half a billion years old. There is no evidence for plate tectonics, possibly because its crust is too strong to subduct without water to make it less viscous, and some suggest that instead Venus loses its internal heat in a periodic massive resurfacing event.

The adjective Venusian is commonly used for items related to Venus, though the Latin adjective is the rarely used Venerean; the now-archaic Cytherean is still occasionally encountered. Venus is the only planet in the Solar System named after a female figure. although two dwarf planets—Ceres and Eris—also have female names.

Mercury

Mercury (pronounced /ˈmɝkjʊəri/) is the innermost and smallest planet in the solar system, orbiting the Sun once every 88 days. Mercury is bright when viewed from Earth, ranging from −2.0 to 5.5 in apparent magnitude, but is not easily seen as its greatest angular separation from the Sun (greatest elongation) is only 28.3°: It can only be seen in morning and evening twilight. Comparatively little is known about it; the first of two spacecraft to approach Mercury was Mariner 10 from 1974 to 1975, which mapped only about 45% of the planet’s surface.^[5] The second was the MESSENGER spacecraft, which mapped another 30% of the planet during its flyby of January 14, 2008.^[5] MESSENGER will make two more passes by Mercury, followed by orbital insertion in 2011, and will survey and map the entire planet.

Physically, Mercury is similar in appearance to the Moon. It is heavily cratered, has no natural satellites and no substantial atmosphere. It has a large iron core, which generates a magnetic field about 1% as strong as that of the Earth.^[6] It is an exceptionally dense planet due to the large size of its core. The surface temperatures on Mercury range from about 90 to 700 K (−180 to 430 °C), with the subsolar point being the hottest and the bottoms of craters near the poles being the coldest.

Recorded observations of Mercury date back to the Sumerians in the third millennium BC. Before the 4th century BC, Greek astronomers believed the planet to be two separate objects: one visible only at sunrise, which they called Apollo; the other visible only at sunset, which they called Hermes. The English name for the planet comes from the Romans, who named it after the Roman god Mercury, which they equated with the Greek Hermes. The astronomical symbol for Mercury is a stylized version of Hermes’ caduceus.

US President George W Bush has urged Nato allies to send more troops to Afghanistan ahead of the alliance’s biggest-ever summit in Romania.

President Bush It set out his agenda in a pre-summit speech BULLSHIT

In a pre-summit speech in Bucharest, Mr Bush said “we cannot afford to lose Afghanistan… we must win”.

Romania and France are due to send more troops and Mr Bush asked other nations “to step forward”.

He also renewed calls for Nato membership to be open to any European democracy that sought it.

The Nato-led force in Afghanistan currently numbers 47,000 troops from 40 nations. Commanders have called for a further 10,000 soldiers to be deployed.

Nato allies want the Bucharest summit, starting later on Wednesday, to send the message that it will stay in Afghanistan for as long as necessary.