This page is a periodic description of current events or topics that concern the Nightly Observing Program held at the Kitt Peak Visitor Center.

June/July 2002

Light Reading

This month you may start to feel a bit warmer as the more direct rays of the Sun make themselves felt. Incredibly the intervening distance of 93,000,000 miles does not seem to mitigate the intensity of the Sun for us the great- baked Tucsonans. Even at the speed of light it takes photons emitted from the Sun eight minutes to race from the solar surface and cross the finish line here on the Earth. In reality the race began millions of years ago. The Sun is little more than a tremendous ball of hydrogen gas. Gravity squeezes this ball of gas so that the temperatures and pressures in the core of the Sun are great enough for nuclear fusion to take place. The fusion of two hydrogen nuclei eventually lead to the creation of a helium atom plus the release of energy in the form of photons. These photons will be absorbed and released in random directions by nearby atoms (because the density of atoms is great). Thus it takes a photon a long time to work its way through 400,000 miles of gas to the surface. On average this trip is around 1,000,000 years. So after a million years a photon from the Sun will cry "freedom!" as it breaks away from its solar prison. For eight minutes this photon lives blissfully until it slams into the surface of your sunglasses, your outdoor swimming pool, or your sweat-drenched skin. Therefore, before you curse the temperature of your car or "dry heat" of the desert- consider the journey that light had to make to warm your soul.

For questions or future article suggestions please e-mail me at ablock@noao.edu

Adam Block
Kitt Peak Visitor Center
Lead Observer

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Flynn Haase (fhaase@noao.edu)
Ethan Gargiulo (gargiulo@noao.edu)
Richard Barchfield (richardb@noao.edu)
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Updated: 06/00/2002