Watch the painfully slow crawl from sun to earth

[josephpalazzo]

It takes about 8 minutes - considering that light can circle the earth 7 times per second, this  makes you realize just how vast space is.

[jonb]

That is a lovely little graphic, thanks for finding and showing it.
Or if you made it tell us, it is just great.

[peacewithoutgod]

It takes about 8 minutes - considering that light can circle the earth 7 times per second, this  makes you realize just how vast space is.

Needless to say this is not a scale drawing. I once read somewhere that this would require a sheet which is 2 miles long.

[Hydra009]

It takes about 8 minutes - considering that light can circle the earth 7 times per second, this  makes you realize just how vast space is.

"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." - Douglas Adams

[josephpalazzo]

Needless to say this is not a scale drawing. I once read somewhere that this would require a sheet which is 2 miles long.

Indeed, distance-wise it is not to scale, only time-wise.

[Baruch]

Indeed, distance-wise it is not to scale, only time-wise.

Distance shields us from the many destructive actions of the Sun, plus Earth's magnetic field shields us.  The majority of energy transport in the Sun is by acoustics, secondarily by convection and light.  If it were possible to conduct sound thru the vacuum, the roar of the Sun would make us all deaf!

[Atheon]

That proves GOD! Since GAWD lives outside the universe, our prayers have to travel far faster than light to reach his holy ears!!!! But nothing can go faster than light. So prayers are the magic of god! Ergo GODD EXITS!!

[Baruch]

That proves GOD! Since GAWD lives outside the universe, our prayers have to travel far faster than light to reach his holy ears!!!! But nothing can go faster than light. So prayers are the magic of god! Ergo GODD EXITS!!

Any Star Trek fan would know that tachyons exist ... and prayers travel super-luminal via tachyons.  May the physics be with you (makes Spock hand sign).

[surreptitious57]

In terms of mass the Sun is nothing special compared to other stars. Also the time it takes for light to travel from it to
Earth is practically nothing relative to the size of the universe. There are other stars that absolutely dwarf the Sun and
it is not large enough to become a black hole when it does die. It does not even have a companion star like most other
solar systems do. We only think it is amazing because it is the star closest to us and the one that provides us with light
and heat without which we could not live. And yet in a billion years from now that very same star shall cause the ocean
temperatures to rise to a point that shall render it impossible for life on Earth to survive. Another four billion years later
the planet will be atomised after the Sun finally goes red giant expanding all the way out to the orbit of Mercury. And so
exactly where you are sitting right now eventually end up inside of it. And with absolutely no trace of either it or you left

[Baruch]

Don't be depressed ... look on the sunny side of life ;-)

[jonb]

https://youtu.be/ZTy6b7ZtKU0

[SGOS]

I'm setting my alarm for 8 minutes so I can run outside and see what the light looks like when it get here.

[josephpalazzo]

I'm setting my alarm for 8 minutes so I can run outside and see what the light looks like when it get here.

It happens all the time - the moment your skin absorbs sunlight, it was released 8 minutes ago; the light from stars, millions of years ago; from galaxies, billions of years ago. You are constantly bombarded by the past. Scary...no wonder Christian fundies don't buy into this...