Luminosity of the Sun over the ages.

Jan 16, 2022
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Does anyone have reference material to understand and compare the luminosity(in Joules) and the total energy output of the Sun during the Archean and Proterozoic eras of our planet? Can this be observed along with the Sun-Earth distance over the duration and relate it to the composition of atmospheric and surface gases around the planet, to understand the cause of the formation of the first life forms? I believe eventually, this could also be used to predict the life on the discovered exoplanets out there.
 
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Good question stark710, You may find this report interesting, Possible solution to 'faint young Sun paradox': Primordial asteroid bombardment triggered atmospheric warming capable of sustaining liquid water -- ScienceDaily

The Faint Young Sun is an issue in geology for Earth and Mars. Here is a report on a slushy Moon and we have microorganism fossils on Earth dated 4.28 billion years ago, apparently when the Moon was still a magma ocean covering it, orbiting perhaps 10-20 earth radii distance, https://www.space.com/moon-crust-formation-slushy-magma-ocean

There is plenty taking place now in the radiometric ages used 4.5 to 4.2 billion years ago, https://forums.space.com/threads/how-was-the-moon-formed.53695/

The Faint Young Sun also involves the ZAMS Sun and its total energy output. Wikipedia has a report, perhaps 70% of current energy output, some 3.845 x 10^33 erg/s according to Allen's Astrophysical Quantities, Fourth Edition, 2000, p. 340. That would be about 2.69 x 10^33 erg/s. The ZAMS Sun could be rotating 10x faster than present Sun near 2 km/s at its equator, https://phys.org/news/2022-01-lamost-reveals-secret-stellar-rotation.html, the ZAMS Sun could be rotating near 25 km/s, spitting out many more CME and large flares too.

Demonstrating that these solar conditions existed when microorganisms are dated some 4.28 billion years old now and apparently flourishing on Earth, as well as a Moon with a magma ocean covering it when life was flourishing on Earth, I feel is a work in progress :)
 
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Good question stark710, You may find this report interesting, Possible solution to 'faint young Sun paradox': Primordial asteroid bombardment triggered atmospheric warming capable of sustaining liquid water -- ScienceDaily

The Faint Young Sun is an issue in geology for Earth and Mars. Here is a report on a slushy Moon and we have microorganism fossils on Earth dated 4.28 billion years ago, apparently when the Moon was still a magma ocean covering it, orbiting perhaps 10-20 earth radii distance, https://www.space.com/moon-crust-formation-slushy-magma-ocean

There is plenty taking place now in the radiometric ages used 4.5 to 4.2 billion years ago, https://forums.space.com/threads/how-was-the-moon-formed.53695/

The Faint Young Sun also involves the ZAMS Sun and its total energy output. Wikipedia has a report, perhaps 70% of current energy output, some 3.845 x 10^33 erg/s according to Allen's Astrophysical Quantities, Fourth Edition, 2000, p. 340. That would be about 2.69 x 10^33 erg/s. The ZAMS Sun could be rotating 10x faster than present Sun near 2 km/s at its equator, https://phys.org/news/2022-01-lamost-reveals-secret-stellar-rotation.html, the ZAMS Sun could be rotating near 25 km/s, spitting out many more CME and large flares too.

Demonstrating that these solar conditions existed when microorganisms are dated some 4.28 billion years old now and apparently flourishing on Earth, as well as a Moon with a magma ocean covering it when life was flourishing on Earth, I feel is a work in progress :)

That's quite interesting Ron, thank you for sharing the links. Let's hope these researches lead our way to colonization on Mars in the coming centuries.
 
Does anyone have reference material to understand and compare the luminosity(in Joules) and the total energy output of the Sun during the Archean and Proterozoic eras of our planet? Can this be observed along with the Sun-Earth distance over the duration and relate it to the composition of atmospheric and surface gases around the planet, to understand the cause of the formation of the first life forms? I believe eventually, this could also be used to predict the life on the discovered exoplanets out there.
I would guess stellar age is important to life's chances on exoplanets.

Here is a site I found that has a remarkable no. of slides addressing almost every aspect of the Sun. They raise the issue of the early age of the Sun and life on Earth as a paradox, as the Earth should have been frozen when the Sun was a lot less luminous. They offer a couple of ideas, such as greenhouse gases. We can't assume, however, that the Earth's orbit has been fixed for all this time. Perhaps we were closer to the Sun at some earlier time.

Here is one on the evolution of the Sun. It explains the basic physics that accounts for the luminosity increase... the H/He ratio in the core. [I often see arguments of pressure explaining the increase in energy output, but I suspect this isn't the main story, albeit that ratio is indeed the key, nevertheless.]
 
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I placed a post in this thread that parallels with the Faint Young Sun issue. https://forums.space.com/threads/ma...e-stayed-steady-over-600-million-years.53727/

We have microorganisms on earth flourishing, dated 4.28 billion years ago. We have the Moon closer to Earth and likely still cooling from the magma ocean so glowing in the night sky, we have the Faint Young Sun, and other reports now for more bombardments too. Quite a mix of catastrophism at work :)
 
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I placed a post in this thread that parallels with the Faint Young Sun issue. https://forums.space.com/threads/ma...e-stayed-steady-over-600-million-years.53727/

We have microorganisms on earth flourishing, dated 4.28 billion years ago. We have the Moon closer to Earth and likely still cooling from the magma ocean so glowing in the night sky, we have the Faint Young Sun, and other reports now for more bombardments too. Quite a mix of catastrophism at work :)
Yes. Perhaps the chances for life require a very large number of circumstances to be just right for life, especially advance life.

Those that favor life's origins around thermal vents at the bottom of the oocean will not be that affected by a frozen early Earth, I would think.
 
Yes. Perhaps the chances for life require a very large number of circumstances to be just right for life, especially advance life.

Those that favor life's origins around thermal vents at the bottom of the oocean will not be that affected by a frozen early Earth, I would think.

Helio, I hope those who experiment with abiogenesis for the origin of life on Earth, deep in the Precambrian, include asteroid bombardments. Should be fun to simulate in the lab :)
 
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[I see I missed this one.]

That's interesting but my calculations seem to indicate that the rate of impact would have to be about 400 trillion times greater in those early days for a daily rate to offset the 23% reduction from today's luminosity compared to the early Sun. [23% reduction = 30% increase].

Admittedly, this considers only KE, not their point about those asteroids causing greenhouse gas emissions. Still that seems like a lot to overcome.
 
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Jan 16, 2022
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stark710, in your post #1 you asked about the Faint Young Sun, "Can this be observed..." My answer using my telescopes with safe solar filter is no. I do not see a ZAMS Sun at all today and neither did Galileo or others that followed using telescopes. A site I frequently use when making my solar observations is, SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

This site shows the present Sun, not a ZAMS Sun.
Thanks for the link rod. Our sun is currently is a main-sequence star. But during its Nebula and Protostar phases, how did it affect the space around it? I've always wondered what if there are life forms that have adapted to the raging temperatures of the sun using the available atmosphere, in planets like Mercury and Venus. For instance, to date, there have been only 2 probes that humans sent to Mercury, and the recent one(NASA's Messenger probe) has discovered some fascinating facts about the planet's surface and magnetic fields. There is still a lot to learn about the planets in our own solar system and it would be surprising to one day find a possibility of an advanced life-form living under the surface of these planets right?
 
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I placed a post in this thread that parallels with the Faint Young Sun issue. https://forums.space.com/threads/ma...e-stayed-steady-over-600-million-years.53727/

We have microorganisms on earth flourishing, dated 4.28 billion years ago. We have the Moon closer to Earth and likely still cooling from the magma ocean so glowing in the night sky, we have the Faint Young Sun, and other reports now for more bombardments too. Quite a mix of catastrophism at work :)
Exactly!!!! And I am in search of what created these microorganisms and bacterias in the first place. Where life is today is all thanks to the formation of those initial forms. There had to be a certain mix of the gases and the solar energy output that gave way to that creation.
 
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I think it’s as simple as a function that gauges the rate of solar rotations, there with a location variable you can pin point where you are in the universe lol

best way to prove astronomical guesses is the language of the universe math, read up on classic calculus books