Where Earth is Located in Relations to the Sun
The sun is the center of the solar system, and all the bodies found in the system revolves around it, including earth (Crystal, 2017). The distance between the earth and the sun is about 149.6 million kilometers, making it the third planet from the sun (Sharp, 2017). The distance between the earth and the sun is known as the astronomical unit (AU). The earth rotates around the sun at a fixed plane that is tilted at an angle of 23.5 o . As a result, about 24 hours to complete one single rotation, which means that it moves at about 15 o per hour to make 360 o in a day. Therefore, the sun is moving at a constant speed. On the contrary, it takes earth one year to revolve around the sun.
Fig 1: Image of Earth
(Sharp, 2017)
How the Relationship between Sun and Earth controls the Seasons
The seasons are controlled by the earth’s axis that is tilted at an angle of 23.5 o . At the same time, the seasons are controlled because the earth's axis is always pointing in the same direction. The season of winter on the northern hemisphere always appears when the northern axis is pointing at the direction of the sun ( Priest et al ., 2007) . At the same time, there will be summer season in the southern hemisphere when the northern axis is pointing the direction of the sun. The northern hemisphere is likely to experience summer during the same period because sun rays can reach earth surface. Hence, the relationship leads to a change of season in different regions, especially in the northern and southern hemispheres.
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Fig. 2: Relationship between Earth and the Sun
(Crystal, 2017)
Properties of the Atmospheric Layers
There are five atmospheric layers, and they include the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere (Sharp, 2017). Troposphere has warm air near the ground and cold air on the upper side. The layer also has water vapor and dust. Besides, it accounts for about half of the earth's atmosphere. It is the only layer that can support human life because of its favorable temperature. The troposphere is about 20km thick. The second layer is the stratosphere. One of the major characteristics of this layer is that it has a lot of ozone, which plays a critical role of heating the atmosphere while at the same time absorbing harmful radiations emitted by the sun (Sharp, 2017). The air in this layer is always dry. Stratosphere supports life by absorbing radiations and controlling atmospheric temperature. The layer is about 8km thick. The mesosphere is the third layer, and it is the coldest part of the atmosphere, which is its major characteristic. Also, the temperature in the layer is about negative 90C o . The extremely cold temperature is the main reason why the layer does not support life. The thickness of the layers is estimated to be between 120 and 400km.
Fig. 3: Atmospheric Layers
(Sharp, 2017)
The primary characteristic of the thermosphere layer is the low air density, which sometimes makes it be considered as outer space (Sharp, 2017). At the same time, the layer is extremely hot with a temperature of about 1500C o . The layer does not help in sustaining life because of its extremely high temperature. The layer is about 90km thick. Exosphere, on the other hand, is extremely thin and it contains a lot of hydrogen and helium. The thickness of the layer is between 500 and 1000km.
Map Projections
There are many different types of earth projections that can be used to locate a place. The first type is cylindrical earth projections. The map projection has straight coordinates and meridians that are equally spaced (Borneman, 2015). Although it helps in locating a place, it can be severely distorted at the poles, which may interfere with its accuracy. The second type of map projection is conic map projection. This type of projection is most effective when used in hemispheric maps.
Fig. 4: Image of Cylindrical Map Projection
(Borneman, 2015)
Fig. 5: Images of Conic Map Projection
(Borneman, 2015)
References
Borneman, E. (2015, January 5). Types of Map Projections. Geolounge . Retrieved from https://www.geolounge.com/types-map-projections/
Crystal, M. (2017, April 24). What is Earth's Position in the Solar System? Sciencing . Retrieved from https://sciencing.com/what-earths-position-solar-system-4579969.html
Priest, E., Lockwood, M., Solanki, S., & Wolfendale, A. (2007). Does the Sun affect the Earth's climate? Astronomy & Geophysics , 48 (3), 3-07.
Sharp, T. (2017, October 13). Earth's Atmosphere: Composition, Climate & Weather. Space.com . Retrieved from https://www.space.com/17683-earth-atmosphere.html
Sharp, T. (2017, October 18). How far is Earth from the Sun? Space.com . Retrieved from https://www.space.com/17081-how-far-is-earth-from-the-sun.html
