The Sun is an Ordinary Star Among The Stars of The Lower Sky
Selections from the Book The Story of The Beginning of Creation and The Creation of Adam, peace be upon him …
Written by Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi...
Episode (43)
The sun is the star around which our Earth orbits, along with the other members of the solar system. It also revolves with the solar system around the center of the galaxy, and with the galaxy around higher centers, gradually leading to an end known only to Allah Almighty. The sun is the closest star in the sky to us, with a distance estimated to be about one hundred and fifty million kilometers away. Its radius is estimated to be around seven hundred thousand kilometers.
The sun and its solar system move through the expanse of the universe at an estimated speed of about 19 kilometers per second towards a point in the constellation Hercules, near the star Vega. This point is scientifically referred to as the "Solar Apex," and it may be what its Creator, the Exalted, refers to in His Wise Book as the "place of the sun." Additionally, the sun and its solar system travel at an estimated speed of about 220 kilometers per second around the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, completing this orbit in approximately 225 million Earth years. The closest planet in the solar system to the sun is Mercury, which is about 58 million kilometers away from it. There is also a theoretical planet believed to exist beyond Pluto, but it has not yet been observed.
When we move beyond the scope of the solar system, these earthly measurements are insufficient to gauge the distances that separate the other stars in the lower sky from us. Scientists have agreed upon a cosmic unit of measurement known as the light-year, which is the distance that light travels at an estimated speed of about three hundred thousand kilometers per second in one year. This distance is approximately 9.5 trillion kilometers.
- Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi, The Story of The Beginning of Creation and The Creation of Adam, peace be upon him, pp. 291-292.
- From the verses of scientific miracles in the sky, Al-Najjar, p. 201.
For further information and review of the sources for the article, see:
The Book of The Story of The Beginning of Creation and The Creation of Adam, peace be upon him on the official website of Sheikh Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi:
