Ciekawostka: The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth

Evidence: 45 • authority: 72

The Moon is the only natural satellite of Earth. It orbits Earth in an elliptical path, at a distance that varies over the year, averaging around 378,000 kilometers (235,000 mi). It completes an orbit (lunar month) in relation to Earth and the Sun (synodically) every 29.5 days. The Moon and Earth are bound by gravitational attraction, which is stronger on the sides facing each other. The resulting tidal forces are the main driver of Earth's tides, and have pulled the Moon to always face Earth with the same near side. This tidal locking effectively synchronizes the Moon's rotation period (lunar day) to its orbital period (lunar month). In geophysical terms, the Moon is a planetary-mass objec…

Evidence: 45 • authority: 72

The Sun is the star located at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light and infrared radiation, with 10% at ultraviolet energies. It is the main source of energy for life on Earth. The Sun has been an object of veneration in many cultures and a central subject of astronomical research since antiquity. The Sun orbits the Galactic Center at a distance of 24,000 to 28,000 light-years. Its mean distance from Earth is about 1.496×108 kilometres or about 8 light-minutes. The distance between the Sun and the Earth was used to define a unit of l…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 72

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is made possible by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its ocean, which covers 70.8% of Earth's crust. The remaining 29.2% of Earth's crust is dry land, which is predominantly located within Earth's land hemisphere in the form of continental landmasses. Most of Earth's land is at least somewhat humid and covered by vegetation, while large ice sheets at Earth's polar deserts retain more water than Earth's groundwater, lakes, rivers, and atmospheric water combined. Earth's crust consists of slo…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 72

A super-Earth is a type of exoplanet with a mass higher than Earth's, but substantially below those of the Solar System's ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, which are 14.5 and 17.1 times Earth's mass respectively. The term "super-Earth" refers only to the mass of the planet, and so does not imply anything about the surface conditions or habitability. The alternative term "gas dwarfs" may be more accurate for those at the higher end of the mass scale, although "mini-Neptunes" is a more common term.

Evidence: 41 • authority: 72

Heliocentrism (also known as the heliocentric model) is a superseded astronomical model that placed the Sun at the center of the universe, with the Earth and the planets in its orbit. It superseded geocentrism, which placed the Earth at the center of the universe. In modern astronomy, heliocentrism has been superseded by models based on relativity, in which the universe does not have an absolute center or preferred frames of reference. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed Earth at the center. The idea that Earth revolves around the Sun was proposed as early as the 3rd century BC by Aristarchus of Samos, who had been influenced by Philolaus's 5th-century BC co…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 72

Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it is a phenomenon that happens approximately once every 24 hours, except in areas close to the poles. The equinox Sun sets due west at the moment of both the spring and autumn equinoxes. As viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun sets to the northwest (or not at all) in the spring and summer, and to the southwest in the autumn and winter; these seasons are reversed for the Southern Hemisphere. The sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment the upper limb of the Su…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 72

The Book of the New Sun (1980–1983, 1987) is a four-volume science fantasy novel written by the American author Gene Wolfe. The work is in four parts with a fifth novel acting as a coda to the main story. It inaugurated the "Solar Cycle" that Wolfe continued by setting other works in the same universe (The Book of the Long Sun series, and The Book of the Short Sun series). It chronicles the journey of Severian, a journeyman torturer from the Order of the Seekers for Truth and Penitence. After helping a client kill herself, he is exiled in disgrace to journey to the distant city of Thrax where he is to live out his days as their executioner. Severian lives in the ancient city of Nessus in a…

Evidence: 41 • authority: 72

The roughly spherical shape of Earth can be empirically evidenced by many different types of observation, ranging from ground level, flight, or orbit. The spherical shape causes a number of effects and phenomena that when combined disprove flat Earth beliefs. These include the visibility of distant objects on Earth's surface; lunar eclipses; appearance of the Moon; observation of the sky from a certain altitude; observation of certain fixed stars from different locations; observing the Sun; surface navigation; grid distortion on a spherical surface; weather systems; gravity; and modern technology.

Evidence: — • authority: 35