Member-only story

We’re Connected to the Sun in So Many Remarkable Ways

It lights up our lives (pun fully intended)

Mark Ali
Counter Arts
5 min readAug 24, 2023

--

An extreme close-up of a bright yellow sunflower
“Sunflower” (© Mark Ali)

Light is complicated. Just ask a physicist.

I’m referring to the nature of light — it’s a particle (photons) and it’s a wave (an electromagnetic wave, to be exact).

But how can it be both?

As I said — it’s complicated. But that’s not what this article is about.

What I really want to talk about is light as a product of the sun.

Sunlight is Natural Light

What’s the closest star to the Earth?

That’s one of those annoying questions often asked by geeky astronomy buffs (like me). The answer, of course, is our own sun. It’s about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) away. But in astronomical terms, that’s really close.

And when it comes to light, it doesn’t get any more natural than the sun. Our local star has been lighting up our little planet for billions of years. (Yes, the Earth is that old.)

Orange autumn leaves backlit by a bright mid-day sun
“Leaves at Peak” (© Mark Ali)

--

--

Counter Arts
Counter Arts

Published in Counter Arts

The (Counter)Cultural One-Stop for Nonfiction on Medium… incorporating categories for: ‘Art’, ‘Culture’, ‘Equality’, ‘Photography’, ‘Film’, ‘Mental Health’, ‘Music’ and ‘Literature’.

Mark Ali
Mark Ali

Written by Mark Ali

I’m a writer, a photographer, a music lover, and a professional ice sculptor. I’m kidding about that last thing. (View my portfolio at: markaliphotos.com)

Responses (2)