rekordy: Vega

Evidence: 91 • authority: 72

Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close to the Solar System, at only 25 light-years (7.7 parsecs) from the Sun, and one of the most luminous stars in the Sun's neighborhood, being intrinsically brighter than any star nearer to the Sun. It is the fifth-brightest star in the night sky, and the second-brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus. Vega has been extensively studied by astronomers, leading it to be termed "arguably the next most important star in the sky after the Sun". Vega was the northern pole…

Evidence: 56 • 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: 45 • authority: 80

A star passing close to the solar system

Evidence: 45 • authority: 72

The Solar System is the gravitationally bound system of the Sun and the masses that orbit it, most prominently its eight planets, of which Earth is one. The Solar System is an isolated single-star planetary system (not part of a larger star system) within the Milky Way Galaxy. The system formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a dense region of a molecular cloud collapsed, creating the Sun and a protoplanetary disc from which the orbiting bodies assembled. The Sun accounts for 99.86% of the Solar System's total mass. Inside the Sun's core, hydrogen is fused into helium, releasing energy that is emitted through the Sun's photosphere. This creates the heliosphere and a decreasing temperature…

Evidence: 35 • authority: 80

From supernova to Solar System: Few years only; first Solar System components apatite and spinel determined

Evidence: 35 • authority: 80

Tatahouine: ‘Star Wars meteorite’ sheds light on the early Solar System

Evidence: 35 • authority: 92

A binary merger product as the direct progenitor of a Type II-P supernova. Abstract Type II-P supernovae (SNe II-P) are the most common type of core-collapse SNe in the local Universe. The progenitors of SNe II-P have been directly observed in fortuitous pre-explosion images with effective temperatures and luminosities consistent with red supergiants (RSGs). For a long time such RSGs were believed to originate from single stars. Recent binary population synthesis, however, predict that many observed SNe II-P should actually arise from interacting binaries. This binary progenitor channel still lacks observational evidence since it is difficult to distinguish whether a detected progenitor com…

Evidence: 35 • authority: 72

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. Similar in size and mass to Earth, Venus has no liquid water, and its atmosphere is far thicker and denser than that of any other rocky body in the Solar System. The atmosphere is composed mostly of carbon dioxide and has a thick cloud layer of sulfuric acid that spans the whole planet. At the mean surface level, the atmosphere reaches a temperature of 737 K (464 °C; 867 °F), making it the hottest planet in the solar system and also a pressure 92 times greater than Earth's at sea level, turning the lowest layer of the atmosphere into a supercritical fluid. From Earth, Venus is visible as a star-like point of light, appearing brighter than any other n…