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The biggest source of light on earth is our Sun. The Sun is, basically, a long-burning nuclear fusion fire. Like fires familiar to we earthlings, it puts out heat and light ... in fact, it is the most significant source of heat and light ... the only other sources of light are terrestrial sources (artificial lights on earth and volcanoes). Light from the Moon is actually reflected sunlight, so if we don't count sunlight we also cannot count moonlight; likewise, the Northern Lights and Southern Lights are effects from the sun hitting our atmosphere and magnetic fields so would not count, either; the only other light sources would be distance stars ... essentially, without the sun, we would only have what light we have when there is a New Moon.

If you had a ball and a flashlight in an otherwise dark room, and the ball and flashlight were on a table (so you wouldn't have to hold the flashlight) and the flashlight was turned on and pointed toward the ball, only half of the ball would be lit by the flashlight (not counting light reflected off the walls or other surfaces behind the flashlight which would at least somewhat light the backside of the ball). Its a very good analogy to your question: if you walked around the table to observe the side of the ball opposite the flashlight, it would be in shadow, and that is what nighttime is: it's the part of the earth that is in shadow from our Sun.

The earth spins around its axis (in my ball/flashlight analogy, consider spinning the ball); thus, all of the earth at some point or another actually gets lit by the sun, but only half of the Earth at any particular point in time (not counting light from the sun reflected from the moon back to Earth, which we call moonlight).

The Sun does not surround the earth, it is just one object -- it is much bigger than the earth, but very far away; just like you can block a giant mountain that is far away from your eyesight with a thumb, so too does the earth (a tiny speck compared with the giant Sun) shade half of itself from the sun's light.

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13y ago

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The sun is 92 million to 94 million miles away depending on the time of year, which is far enough away that it can illuminate the entire half of Earth facing it, just as shining a light on a ball lights up half of it.


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Because the planet moves around the sun, therefore the sun can not light the entire planet at the same time, and so the different parts of the planet have different times of day and night.


Why would gamma rays and light waves reach the earth at the same time?

Gamma rays and light waves can reach Earth at the same time if they are emitted simultaneously from the same event, such as a supernova explosion. Since both travel at the speed of light in a vacuum, they can arrive on Earth together, despite having different properties and wavelengths.


What happened when the earth will rotate on its axis once a year?

In that case, it would show the Sun the same face all the time. In parts of the Earth it would be day all the time, in other parts it would be night all the time.


Can the whole globe be lighted at the same time?

No, as only one side of Earth can be facing the Sun, which is our main source of light. Moonlight isn't strong enough to light up the Earth to the same extent.


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Do all parts of the earth see the same stars at the same time?

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