Scientific Facts and Superstitions About The Sun
The sun which has been a major source of light to the earth and other planets has been on the lips of many people either for research or writing about it in a little way they know.
The sun has several characteristics associated with its existence as was written down by many researchers in the past. Before going into the full content of this article let us know
SOME THINGS SAID ABOUT THE SUN
- It was said that the sun is the center of the entire solar system.
- It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, with an internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field through a dynamo process.
- It has a diameter measuring about 1.39 million kilometers, which is 109 times that of the earth.
- The sun has a mass that is 330,000 times that of the earth, with such mass; it is believed that the sun accounts for 99.86% of the total mass in the solar system.
- Three-quarters of the sun contains 73% of hydrogen, 25% of helium, and other elements such as iron, neon, oxygen, and carbon, in small quantities.
- The sun is being referred to as a G-type main-sequence star by astronomers based on its spectral class.
- The sun is believed to be formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud, which makes some scientists refer to it as a yellow dwarf.
- It is believed that the existence of the sun formed the solar system which is a base for the yearly calendar.
- It is believed that the sun is middle-aged, it has not changed unexpectedly for more than 4 billion years and is predicted to remain stable for more than the next 5 billion years.
- It is believed that when the hydrogen fusion going on in the sun has diminished to the point at which it is no longer in hydrostatic equilibrium, which can take more than 5 billion years; the sun will increase in density and temperature while the outer layers will expand to become red giants. In such an instance, the sun will become sufficiently large to engulf planets closer to it such as Mercury and Venus, and such condition will render the earth inhabitable due to intense heat from the sun which will become very close to the earth.
WHY WERE THESE RELIGIOUS HISTORIES RELATED TO THE SUN?
Sumerians believed that the sun was Utu, (the god of justice and twin brother to Inanna (Queen of Heaven)).
In ancient Egypt, the sun was worshiped as the god Ra, while in the new empire, the sun became the Dung beetle.
In Proto-Indo-European religion, the sun was personified as the goddess Seh2ul.
In ancient Greek religion, the sun was the male god Helios, while traces of earlier female solar deities were preserved in Helen of Troy, later Helios was syncretized with Apollo.
In ancient Roman culture, Sunday was the day for the god of the sun, later it was adopted as the Sabbath day without Jewish backup.
It is believed that the celebration of the winter solstice () which influenced Christmas) was part of the Roman cult of the unconquered sun god (sol Invictus).
The sun god, Tonatiuh, the Aztec god of the sun, was usually depicted holding arrows and shields and closely associated with human sacrifice.
The Japanese emperors were believed to be descendants of the sun goddess Amaterasu, which is the most important deity in the Shinto religion.
Conclusion
Having gone through all these facts about the sun and how people worshiped it in the past, and how some still do even to date, what do we say of true religion? In the Christian faith, Malachi 4:2; what was the bible referring to as the sun of righteousness?
