What is the Sun? How was it made? Scientists have spent lifetimes studying, contemplating, speculating, and advancing our knowledge of the Sun. For millennia, the Sun has been a frequent object of human veneration—sometimes even worshipped as a god—by societies who recognized its life-giving force, without which life on Earth would cease.
In a nutshell, the Sun is a star—the biggest, brightest and hottest object in our Solar System—around which Earth (and other planets) orbit. The Sun (and the Solar System) was formed when an ancient "Molecular Cloud" began a process of "gravitational collapse," probably triggered by another star's violent explosion. Most of this material (99.86%) rushed to the center, forming the fiery Sun. The remaining few bits (0.14%) were scattered into a flat "plate" which encircles the Sun, held-close by the Sun's enormous gravity (even to this day, 4.5 billion years later). The Earth and the other planets of our Solar System were created out of these little bits of scattered debris.
The Sun is the only star at the center of our Solar System, which sits within a larger "galaxy," called the "Milky Way." While the Sun is the only star in our Solar System, there are between 100 billion and 400 billion stars within the larger Milky Way galaxy.
The Sun rotates faster at the equator (approximately one rotation every 26 Earth days) than it does at its poles (approximately once every 34 days). Scientists believe that the Sun's rotation is slowing-down; it once spun 10 times faster. The Sun is also rich in gold and uranium.
The glazing on the West German Modernist vase, shown here, is a roughly-textured, pumice-like swirl of two colors of orange: a deep vermillion and an orange the color of the fruit. The glazes may have been applied in two separate firings—and the differing chemical "recipes" may have reacted differently in the kiln. This handsome vase was made by Scheurich in the Sixties or Seventies. Click on the photo above to learn more about this handsome piece.
Though our Greenwich Village store is now permanently closed, LEO Design is still alive and well! Please visit our on-line store where we continue to sell Handsome Gifts (www.LEOdesignNYC.com).
To arrange a visit our Pittsburgh showroom (by private appointment only), please call 917-446-4248.