Helios Alive!

In sunny California it is almost unheard of for people to not have AC in the summer. I also have AC.... BUT... it's not central but a single small window unit in my upstairs. NOT ENOUGH... especially on days when the temperatures are in the triple digits. I do what I can ( I have plans to insulate my windows on hot days I hope to put into action today) but there are times when I just have to retreat to one room with my dog and hope that I can stand the noise.... Thank goodness for Sling Box so that I can watch the downstairs TV on my computer upstairs.

I love the Sun; it just doesn't always like me (skin cancers, sun burns, heat in summer, etc.). But it is an amazing site when you see the surface for the first time (which I was trilled to be able to see as a child one of the first times I looked through a friend's telescope). Consider a few factoids:

1. The sun converts 600 million tons of Hydrogen into 595 million tons of Helium EVERY SECOND and it has been doing so for the last 4 1/2 billion years.

2. If you could capture and use all the energy that the sun emits in ONE SECOND, it would be greater than all the energy ever used by humanity in it's ENTIRE HISTORY.

3. Compared to other stars, the Sun is classified as a yellow dwarf star. Dwarf? YES. The largest star I know of is the star VV Cephei which is so large that if you put it in the same position in the Solar System it would be larger than the orbit of the planet Jupiter!