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Difference between revisions of "Sun"
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The Sun has been an object of veneration in many cultures throughout human history. Humanity's most fundamental understanding of the Sun is as the luminous disk in the sky, whose presence above the horizon causes day and whose absence causes night. In many prehistoric and ancient cultures, the Sun was thought to be a solar deity or other supernatural entity. The Sun has played an important part in many world religions, as described in a later section. | The Sun has been an object of veneration in many cultures throughout human history. Humanity's most fundamental understanding of the Sun is as the luminous disk in the sky, whose presence above the horizon causes day and whose absence causes night. In many prehistoric and ancient cultures, the Sun was thought to be a solar deity or other supernatural entity. The Sun has played an important part in many world religions, as described in a later section. | ||
In the early first millennium BC, Babylonian astronomers observed that the Sun's motion along the ecliptic is not uniform, though they did not know why; it is today known that this is due to the movement of Earth in an elliptic orbit around the Sun, with Earth moving faster when it is nearer to the Sun at perihelion and moving slower when it is farther away at aphelion. | In the early first millennium BC, Babylonian astronomers observed that the Sun's motion along the ecliptic is not uniform, though they did not know why; it is today known that this is due to the movement of Earth in an elliptic orbit around the Sun, with Earth moving faster when it is nearer to the Sun at [[perihelion]] and moving slower when it is farther away at aphelion. | ||
One of the first people to offer a scientific or philosophical explanation for the Sun was the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras. He reasoned that it was not the chariot of Helios, but instead a giant flaming ball of metal even larger than the land of the Peloponnesus and that the Moon reflected the light of the Sun. For teaching this [[heresy]], he was imprisoned by the authorities and sentenced to death, though he was later released. | One of the first people to offer a scientific or philosophical explanation for the Sun was the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras. He reasoned that it was not the chariot of Helios, but instead a giant flaming ball of metal even larger than the land of the Peloponnesus and that the [[Moon]] reflected the light of the Sun. For teaching this [[heresy]], he was imprisoned by the authorities and sentenced to death, though he was later released. | ||
The theory that the Sun is the center around which the planets orbit was first proposed by the ancient Greek Aristarchus of Samos in the third century BC, and later adopted by Seleucus of Seleucia. This view was developed in a more detailed mathematical model of a heliocentric system in the 16th century by [[Nicolaus Copernicus]]. | The theory that the Sun is the center around which the planets orbit was first proposed by the ancient Greek Aristarchus of Samos in the third century BC, and later adopted by Seleucus of Seleucia. This view was developed in a more detailed mathematical model of a heliocentric system in the 16th century by [[Nicolaus Copernicus]]. | ||
The invention of the telescope in the early 17th century permitted detailed observations of sunspots by Thomas Harriot, [[Galileo Galilei]] and other astronomers. Galileo posited that sunspots were on the surface of the Sun rather than small objects passing between [[Earth]] and the Sun. | The invention of the telescope in the early 17th century permitted detailed observations of sunspots by Thomas Harriot, [[Galileo Galilei]] and other astronomers. Galileo posited that sunspots were on the surface of the Sun rather than small objects passing between [[Earth]] and the Sun. | ||
The movement of the earth around the sun is the basis of the [[Gregorian calendar]]. | |||
==Solar Religion== | ==Solar Religion== | ||