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141-539: Valley Metro is a membership organization. Most services are separately funded and operated by individual cities and suburbs in the greater Phoenix region. These cities have agreed to participate in Valley Metro as a unifying brand name to streamline service and reduce confusion among riders. Each city appoints a representative to the RPTA board of directors, and a chairman, vice chairman, and treasurer are voted on amongst

282-812: A $ 31 billion transit plan over 35 years. Under the plan, about half of the new revenue will go to bus service, a third to light rail, 7% to street improvements, and 10% to debt service. 42 miles (68 km) of light rail are planned to be built. Interactive map of Valley Metro Rail and the Tempe Streetcar Valley Metro operates bus routes around the Phoenix area through private companies in Phoenix, Mesa , Tempe , Glendale , and other parts of Maricopa County. These include fixed routes on city streets, suburban Express buses, RAPID buses , and circulators in parts of Phoenix, Glendale, Tempe, Mesa, Avondale, and Scottsdale. Valley Metro Rail operates

423-558: A 29.8-mile (48.0 km) route between the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa. The system was most recently expanded in January 2024, with four additional extensions in the design or pre-construction phases, with expected opening dates ranging from 2025 to 2030. Future extensions include service to Baseline Road and Desert Sky Mall , all in Phoenix. The Tempe Streetcar, referred to as the Streetcar Line on regional transit maps,

564-597: A decade's worth of public opinion surveys. They determined that Mesa was the "most conservative American city of more than 250,000 residents". In 2017, the Pew Research Center also determined that Mesa was the most conservative city in the United States. According to the city's 2022 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are: Numerous properties in the city are considered to be historical and have been included either in

705-564: A distance of one astronomical unit (AU) from the Sun (that is, at or near Earth's orbit). Sunlight on the surface of Earth is attenuated by Earth's atmosphere , so that less power arrives at the surface (closer to 1,000 W/m ) in clear conditions when the Sun is near the zenith . Sunlight at the top of Earth's atmosphere is composed (by total energy) of about 50% infrared light, 40% visible light, and 10% ultraviolet light. The atmosphere filters out over 70% of solar ultraviolet, especially at

846-403: A fairly small amount of power being generated per cubic metre . Theoretical models of the Sun's interior indicate a maximum power density, or energy production, of approximately 276.5 watts per cubic metre at the center of the core, which, according to Karl Kruszelnicki , is about the same power density inside a compost pile . The fusion rate in the core is in a self-correcting equilibrium:

987-427: A female householder with no husband present, and 31.9% were non-families. 24.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.20. The age distribution was 27.3% under 18, 11.2% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 18.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% who were 65 or older. The median age

1128-414: A few millimeters. Re-emission happens in a random direction and usually at slightly lower energy. With this sequence of emissions and absorptions, it takes a long time for radiation to reach the Sun's surface. Estimates of the photon travel time range between 10,000 and 170,000 years. In contrast, it takes only 2.3 seconds for neutrinos , which account for about 2% of the total energy production of

1269-399: A full "supergrid" structure continues today as route branches are either replaced with circulators or separated into new routes. Originally, the buses of one of Valley Metro's predecessors, Phoenix Transit System, were painted with orange and pink stripes, and a logo on the sides, rear and front, featuring a character known as "Tico", which was a sun wearing sunglasses and a sombrero . In

1410-464: A goal of a one-third farebox ratio , and the RTP anticipates this to rise to 45% by 2025. The plan implemented studies for further rail service , though for some time in the future. It also used the route placing and color designations from the 1989 plan. In August 2015, Phoenix voters passed Proposition 104, increasing the sales tax allocated to transit from 0.4 to 0.7%. It is expected to partially pay for

1551-401: A granular appearance called the solar granulation at the smallest scale and supergranulation at larger scales. Turbulent convection in this outer part of the solar interior sustains "small-scale" dynamo action over the near-surface volume of the Sun. The Sun's thermal columns are Bénard cells and take the shape of roughly hexagonal prisms. The visible surface of the Sun, the photosphere,

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1692-461: A half-percent sales tax dedicated for transit (which partly allowed officials to study light rail) in 1996. With the start of light rail service in December 2008, these color-coded designations were retired. The Red Line was eliminated altogether as most of the route is now covered by the light rail line (with several portions, including Metrocenter Mall, now also covered by Route 15 – 15th Avenue);

1833-516: A new interior color scheme. On October 30, 2009, Valley Metro introduced a concept paint scheme on two New Flyer C40LFR's which are serving as demonstration units for the new scheme. The scheme consists of a silver body with a green and purple swoosh going from forward of the front wheel to the rear of the CNG tanks. Riders were provided surveys which were collected and information reviewed. This scheme became official on all RPTA-owned buses (not including

1974-594: A one-half percent sales tax increase for expansion of the local freeway system, and for expansion of mass transit. The RPTA was then chartered under the laws of the state of Arizona . At the time, almost all transit service in the Phoenix area was operated by Phoenix Transit System, with a few other bus services such as in Mesa (Mesa Sunrunner) and Scottsdale (Scottsdale Connection) having started around 1990. Valley Metro, as an integrated regional transit service, did not begin operations under its own brand identity until 1993, when

2115-787: A party of people in establishing a settlement in Arizona. They traveled south and settled on the north side of the present Mesa area. This settlement was initially known as Fort Utah and later as Jonesville. It was located near Lehi Road. In 1883, it was named Lehi at the suggestion of Brigham Young, Jr. About this same time, another group dubbed the First Mesa Company arrived from Utah and Idaho. Their leaders were Francis Martin Pomeroy, Charles Crismon , George Warren Sirrine and Charles I. Robson. Rather than accepting an invitation to settle at Jones's Lehi settlement, they moved up onto

2256-520: A period known as the Maunder minimum . This coincided in time with the era of the Little Ice Age , when Europe experienced unusually cold temperatures. Earlier extended minima have been discovered through analysis of tree rings and appear to have coincided with lower-than-average global temperatures. The temperature of the photosphere is approximately 6,000 K, whereas the temperature of

2397-485: A phenomenon described by Hale's law . During the solar cycle's declining phase, energy shifts from the internal toroidal magnetic field to the external poloidal field, and sunspots diminish in number and size. At solar-cycle minimum, the toroidal field is, correspondingly, at minimum strength, sunspots are relatively rare, and the poloidal field is at its maximum strength. With the rise of the next 11-year sunspot cycle, differential rotation shifts magnetic energy back from

2538-465: A referendum took place in the RPTA constituent cities on expanded bus services (the fleet size would nearly have been tripled) and the implementation of elevated rail as part of a plan called "ValTrans". The locations of three of Valley Metro's most heavily traveled bus routes (before the December 2008 start of light rail service) would have been the elevated rail lines' paths, and referred to by these color designations: Funding for would have come from

2679-640: A refurbishment and expansion of the mall has been planned. Mesa Riverview is a new outdoor destination retail center in the northwestern corner of the city, near Loop 202 and Dobson Road. At build-out the center will include 1,300,000 square feet (120,000 m ) of retail space. Located in East Mesa is Superstition Springs Business Park. It includes the Superstition Springs Center , a shopping mall owned by Macerich . It features an outdoor amphitheatre and fountain which convert to

2820-561: A reloadable Copper Card can be purchased from ticket vending machines at the entrance to all stations, or purchased in the Valley Metro App, but must be validated or scanned before boarding the train. Passes and a Copper Card also be purchased on board buses, or in select retailers. Mesa, Arizona Mesa ( / ˈ m eɪ s ə / MAY -sə ) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona , United States. It

2961-473: A result, the outward-flowing solar wind stretches the interplanetary magnetic field outward, forcing it into a roughly radial structure. For a simple dipolar solar magnetic field, with opposite hemispherical polarities on either side of the solar magnetic equator, a thin current sheet is formed in the solar wind. At great distances, the rotation of the Sun twists the dipolar magnetic field and corresponding current sheet into an Archimedean spiral structure called

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3102-415: A sales tax plan with a set expiration and reapproval date by 2019, a 30-year authorization period. The ValTrans proposal was soundly defeated at the polls. Concerns about noise, cost, and overall effectiveness were prominent, as well as voter frustration over the lack of progress on existing road and freeway construction. Similar referendums were later voted down in 1993 and 1997, although Tempe voters passed

3243-410: A slightly higher rate of fusion would cause the core to heat up more and expand slightly against the weight of the outer layers, reducing the density and hence the fusion rate and correcting the perturbation ; and a slightly lower rate would cause the core to cool and shrink slightly, increasing the density and increasing the fusion rate and again reverting it to its present rate. The radiative zone

3384-503: A stage. Anchor stores at the mall are Dillard's , JCPenney , and Macy's . Mission Community Church , previously known as Superstition Springs Community Church, was initially named after this business park . Almost all of the city of Mesa is served by public schools operated by Mesa Public Schools ; however, the southern portion is served by Gilbert Public Schools , the Higley Unified School District and

3525-406: A transition layer, the tachocline . This is a region where the sharp regime change between the uniform rotation of the radiative zone and the differential rotation of the convection zone results in a large shear between the two—a condition where successive horizontal layers slide past one another. Presently, it is hypothesized that a magnetic dynamo, or solar dynamo , within this layer generates

3666-529: Is Main Street (former US 60/70/80/89), serving Downtown Mesa. The primary north–south arterials include Country Club Drive, Gilbert Road, and Power Road. Public transportation in Mesa is provided by Valley Metro via bus and light rail ( Valley Metro Rail ). The light rail section in Mesa spans about four miles from Sycamore/Main St. in the west of the city, through downtown to Gilbert/Main St . Until July 2008, Mesa

3807-555: Is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V), informally called a yellow dwarf , though its light is actually white. It formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud . Most of this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that became the Solar System . The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core . Every second,

3948-554: Is a streetcar extension of the Valley Metro Rail system. It serves 14 stops across three miles of track serving various parts of the city's downtown, as well as the Tempe campus of Arizona State University , with the Valley Metro Rail main line. Valley Metro offers paratransit for elderly and disabled residents via its Paratransit service. Paratransit providers include: Valley Metro Paratransit operates all trips outside

4089-405: Is about 1,391,400 km ( 864,600 mi ), 109 times that of Earth. Its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, making up about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Roughly three-quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen (~73%); the rest is mostly helium (~25%), with much smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen , carbon , neon , and iron . The Sun

4230-554: Is bordered by Tempe on the west, the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community on the north, Chandler and Gilbert on the south along with Queen Creek , and Apache Junction on the east. At least ten colleges and universities are located in Mesa, as is the Mesa Arizona Temple , one of the first LDS temples constructed outside of Utah. The city is home to the largest relief airport in

4371-643: Is by far the brightest object in the Earth's sky , with an apparent magnitude of −26.74. This is about 13 billion times brighter than the next brightest star, Sirius , which has an apparent magnitude of −1.46. One astronomical unit (about 150 million kilometres; 93 million miles) is defined as the mean distance between the centres of the Sun and the Earth. The instantaneous distance varies by about ± 2.5 million km or 1.55 million miles as Earth moves from perihelion on ~ January 3rd to aphelion on ~ July 4th. At its average distance, light travels from

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4512-474: Is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth . The Sun has been an object of veneration in many cultures. It has been a central subject for astronomical research since antiquity . The Sun orbits the Galactic Center at a distance of 24,000 to 28,000 light-years . From Earth, it is 1  astronomical unit ( 1.496 × 10  km ) or about 8 light-minutes away. Its diameter

4653-436: Is defined to begin at the distance where the flow of the solar wind becomes superalfvénic —that is, where the flow becomes faster than the speed of Alfvén waves, at approximately 20 solar radii ( 0.1 AU ). Turbulence and dynamic forces in the heliosphere cannot affect the shape of the solar corona within, because the information can only travel at the speed of Alfvén waves. The solar wind travels outward continuously through

4794-524: Is different from that used in Phoenix and other portions of the metropolitan area. Center Street, running north to south, bisects Mesa into eastern and western halves and serves as the east and west numbering point of origin within Mesa. Streets west of Center St., such as W. University Drive or W. Main St. are considered to be in West Mesa, whereas streets east of Center St., such as E. University or E. Main St., are considered to be in East Mesa. Located in

4935-418: Is elected to represent the city at large and also has a four-year term. Both Councilmembers and mayors cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. A partial term does not count towards these two consecutive terms; for instance, Mayor John Giles served a partial term from 2014 to 2016 then served two consecutive terms from 2016 to 2024. In a 2014 study, academic researchers from MIT and UCLA analyzed over

5076-402: Is facilitated by the full ionization of helium in the transition region, which significantly reduces radiative cooling of the plasma. The transition region does not occur at a well-defined altitude, but forms a kind of nimbus around chromospheric features such as spicules and filaments , and is in constant, chaotic motion. The transition region is not easily visible from Earth's surface, but

5217-492: Is in Phoenix. Mesa has five sister cities , as designated by Sister Cities International : Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System . It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma , heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light and infrared radiation with 10% at ultraviolet energies. It

5358-496: Is in the 5000 block. Because of the establishment of route numbers in the 80s and 90s, the express routes were renumbered to the 500-series, where they remain today. The second digit of the 500-series express routes denotes the region of the metropolitan area where the bus is traveling to (for example, the 510 series go to Scottsdale, the 530 series go to Mesa, and the 570 series go to the Northwest Valley). The evolution to

5499-633: Is located in the far southeastern area of the city and provides alternate but limited air service when compared to Sky Harbor International Airport . Phoenix-Mesa Gateway was formerly Williams Gateway Airport , and before that, Williams Air Force Base , which closed in 1993. Williams Gateway was announced as a new Focus City for Allegiant Air . Service started October 25, 2007. The public hospital system, Valleywise Health (formerly Maricopa Integrated Health System), operates Valleywise Community Health Center – Mesa and Valleywise Behavioral Health Center – Mesa. Its sole hospital, Valleywise Health Medical Center,

5640-409: Is only 84% of what it was in the protostellar phase (before nuclear fusion in the core started). In the future, helium will continue to accumulate in the core, and in about 5 billion years this gradual build-up will eventually cause the Sun to exit the main sequence and become a red giant . The chemical composition of the photosphere is normally considered representative of the composition of

5781-441: Is readily observable from space by instruments sensitive to extreme ultraviolet . The corona is the next layer of the Sun. The low corona, near the surface of the Sun, has a particle density around 10  m to 10  m . The average temperature of the corona and solar wind is about 1,000,000–2,000,000 K; however, in the hottest regions it is 8,000,000–20,000,000 K. Although no complete theory yet exists to account for

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5922-410: Is strongly attenuated by Earth's ozone layer , so that the amount of UV varies greatly with latitude and has been partially responsible for many biological adaptations, including variations in human skin color . High-energy gamma ray photons initially released with fusion reactions in the core are almost immediately absorbed by the solar plasma of the radiative zone, usually after traveling only

6063-422: Is suggested by a high abundance of heavy elements in the Solar System, such as gold and uranium , relative to the abundances of these elements in so-called Population II , heavy-element-poor, stars. The heavy elements could most plausibly have been produced by endothermic nuclear reactions during a supernova, or by transmutation through neutron absorption within a massive second-generation star. The Sun

6204-470: Is tens to hundreds of kilometers thick, and is slightly less opaque than air on Earth. Because the upper part of the photosphere is cooler than the lower part, an image of the Sun appears brighter in the center than on the edge or limb of the solar disk, in a phenomenon known as limb darkening . The spectrum of sunlight has approximately the spectrum of a black-body radiating at 5,772 K (9,930 °F), interspersed with atomic absorption lines from

6345-523: Is the third-most populous city in Arizona, after Phoenix and Tucson , the 36th-most populous city in the U.S., and the most populous city that is not a county seat (except for independent cities Washington, D.C. and Baltimore which are not part of any county). The city is home to 504,258 people as of 2020. It is the most populous city in the East Valley of the Phoenix metropolitan area . It

6486-437: Is the layer below which the Sun becomes opaque to visible light. Photons produced in this layer escape the Sun through the transparent solar atmosphere above it and become solar radiation, sunlight. The change in opacity is due to the decreasing amount of H ions , which absorb visible light easily. Conversely, the visible light perceived is produced as electrons react with hydrogen atoms to produce H ions. The photosphere

6627-424: Is the most prominent variation in which the number and size of sunspots waxes and wanes. The solar magnetic field extends well beyond the Sun itself. The electrically conducting solar wind plasma carries the Sun's magnetic field into space, forming what is called the interplanetary magnetic field . In an approximation known as ideal magnetohydrodynamics , plasma particles only move along magnetic field lines. As

6768-531: Is the only region of the Sun that produces an appreciable amount of thermal energy through fusion; 99% of the Sun's power is generated in the innermost 24% of its radius, and almost no fusion occurs beyond 30% of the radius. The rest of the Sun is heated by this energy as it is transferred outward through many successive layers, finally to the solar photosphere where it escapes into space through radiation (photons) or advection (massive particles). The proton–proton chain occurs around 9.2 × 10 times each second in

6909-420: Is the thickest layer of the Sun, at 0.45 solar radii. From the core out to about 0.7 solar radii , thermal radiation is the primary means of energy transfer. The temperature drops from approximately 7 million to 2 million kelvins with increasing distance from the core. This temperature gradient is less than the value of the adiabatic lapse rate and hence cannot drive convection, which explains why

7050-444: Is theorized to become a super dense black dwarf , giving off negligible energy. The English word sun developed from Old English sunne . Cognates appear in other Germanic languages , including West Frisian sinne , Dutch zon , Low German Sünn , Standard German Sonne , Bavarian Sunna , Old Norse sunna , and Gothic sunnō . All these words stem from Proto-Germanic * sunnōn . This

7191-538: Is ultimately related to the word for sun in other branches of the Indo-European language family, though in most cases a nominative stem with an l is found, rather than the genitive stem in n , as for example in Latin sōl , ancient Greek ἥλιος ( hēlios ), Welsh haul and Czech slunce , as well as (with *l > r ) Sanskrit स्वर् ( svár ) and Persian خور ( xvar ). Indeed,

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7332-409: Is used to augment service provided by the member cities (this is expected to increase over the next several years due to a 2004 voter approval of an extension to the original 1985 sales tax for transit funding). The city of Phoenix alone operates 73 percent of all Valley Metro routes (several of which also serve suburban cities). The RPTA was formed in 1985 as the result of Phoenix-area voters approving

7473-402: Is wave heating, in which sound, gravitational or magnetohydrodynamic waves are produced by turbulence in the convection zone. These waves travel upward and dissipate in the corona, depositing their energy in the ambient matter in the form of heat. The other is magnetic heating, in which magnetic energy is continuously built up by photospheric motion and released through magnetic reconnection in

7614-547: The Alfvén surface , the boundary separating the corona from the solar wind, defined as where the coronal plasma's Alfvén speed and the large-scale solar wind speed are equal. During the flyby, Parker Solar Probe passed into and out of the corona several times. This proved the predictions that the Alfvén critical surface is not shaped like a smooth ball, but has spikes and valleys that wrinkle its surface. The Sun emits light across

7755-622: The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) but with darker tinted windows, no Transit TV (since all Valley Metro divisions except for the City of Phoenix divisions and Valley Metro Rail prohibit advertising), and blue seat fabric (as opposed to the "rainbow" seat fabric used on LACMTA buses). Buses delivered to the city of Phoenix from 2006 to 2008 feature a similar interior to those delivered from 1993 to 2006 but with

7896-745: The Maricopa Association of Governments . The primary outreach effort of the Rideshare team is the Maricopa County Trip Reduction Program, which seeks to reduce traffic impacts on air pollution and emissions throughout the Valley. Any employer with 50 or more full-time employees is required to participate in the program, which seeks to convince employees to use transit alternatives. The 25,000 employees of State of Arizona government agencies who work and live in

8037-615: The National Register of Historic Places or the listings of the Mesa Historic Properties . Mesa has over 2,280 acres of parkland in the city limits. Its largest is Red Mountain Park which spans 1,146 acres. It includes a lake, playgrounds, a basketball court and a cement volleyball court. Mesa is home to numerous championship golf courses, including the original course in town, Mesa Country Club. This course

8178-524: The Parker spiral . Sunspots are visible as dark patches on the Sun's photosphere and correspond to concentrations of magnetic field where convective transport of heat is inhibited from the solar interior to the surface. As a result, sunspots are slightly cooler than the surrounding photosphere, so they appear dark. At a typical solar minimum , few sunspots are visible, and occasionally none can be seen at all. Those that do appear are at high solar latitudes. As

8319-779: The Queen Creek Unified School District , and a small western portion is served by the Tempe Elementary School District and the Tempe Union High School District . Pilgrim Lutheran School is a Christian Pre-K-8 school of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Mesa. More than 40,000 students are enrolled in more than 10 colleges and universities located in Mesa. Mesa is home to Mesa Community College ,

8460-627: The Sonoran Desert , Mesa has a hot desert climate ( Köppen : BWh ), with mild winters and very hot summers. According to the 2020 Census, the racial composition of Mesa was: According to the 2010 Census, the racial composition of Mesa was: As of the census of 2010, there were 439,041 people, 146,643 households, and 99,863 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,171.3 inhabitants per square mile (1,224.4/km ). There were 175,701 housing units at an average density of 1,405.7 per square mile (542.7/km ). The racial make-up of

8601-410: The corona , and the heliosphere . The coolest layer of the Sun is a temperature minimum region extending to about 500 km above the photosphere, and has a temperature of about 4,100  K . This part of the Sun is cool enough to allow for the existence of simple molecules such as carbon monoxide and water. The chromosphere, transition region, and corona are much hotter than the surface of

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8742-614: The l -stem survived in Proto-Germanic as well, as * sōwelan , which gave rise to Gothic sauil (alongside sunnō ) and Old Norse prosaic sól (alongside poetic sunna ), and through it the words for sun in the modern Scandinavian languages: Swedish and Danish sol , Icelandic sól , etc. The principal adjectives for the Sun in English are sunny for sunlight and, in technical contexts, solar ( / ˈ s oʊ l ər / ), from Latin sol . From

8883-433: The mesa that serves as the city's namesake. They dug irrigation canals and used some of the original Hohokam canals. By April 1878, water was flowing through them. The Second Mesa Company arrived in 1879 and settled to the west of the First Mesa Company because of more available farmland. This settlement was originally called Alma and later Stringtown. It was located near where Alma School Road. On July 17, 1878, Mesa City

9024-428: The photosphere . For the purpose of measurement, the Sun's radius is considered to be the distance from its center to the edge of the photosphere, the apparent visible surface of the Sun. By this measure, the Sun is a near-perfect sphere with an oblateness estimated at 9 millionths, which means that its polar diameter differs from its equatorial diameter by only 10 kilometers (6.2 mi). The tidal effect of

9165-444: The visible spectrum , so its color is white , with a CIE color-space index near (0.3, 0.3), when viewed from space or when the Sun is high in the sky. The Solar radiance per wavelength peaks in the green portion of the spectrum when viewed from space. When the Sun is very low in the sky, atmospheric scattering renders the Sun yellow, red, orange, or magenta, and in rare occasions even green or blue . Some cultures mentally picture

9306-436: The 1950s and 1960s. As late as 1960, half of the residents of Mesa made a living with agriculture, but that number declined substantially as Mesa's suburban growth continued on track with the rest of the Phoenix metro area. Mesa stretches 18 miles (29 km) from Price Road in the west to Meridian Road in the east and has a land area of 138.70 square miles (359.2 km ). Mesa employs a grid system for street numbering that

9447-561: The 2011 New Flyer C40LFRs. In 2013, the City of Phoenix introduced a new scheme for its fleet. They differ from the RPTA- and Tempe-owned fleet in that the body is mostly painted white and the green and purple swoosh wraps around the front and rear of the bus. This modification in design was likely made to accommodate advertisements below the windows, since the City of Phoenix is the only operator (other than Valley Metro Rail) that allows advertisements on its fleet. 2019 saw an updated version of

9588-678: The Blue Line was renamed to Route 39 – 40th Street and now terminates at the intersection of Camelback Road and Central Avenue; the Green Line was renamed Route 29 – Thomas (its original pre-ValTrans name); its routing remains unchanged. In 2000, the Transit 2000 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), which involved a 0.4 percent sales tax, was approved by voters in Phoenix. It sought to improve the local bus service and create bus rapid transit and light rail, among other things. Valley Metro Rail has

9729-465: The Greek helios comes the rare adjective heliac ( / ˈ h iː l i æ k / ). In English, the Greek and Latin words occur in poetry as personifications of the Sun, Helios ( / ˈ h iː l i ə s / ) and Sol ( / ˈ s ɒ l / ), while in science fiction Sol may be used to distinguish the Sun from other stars. The term sol with a lowercase s is used by planetary astronomers for

9870-464: The LINK buses) built since 2010. The LINK buses used a variant of this scheme, with a purple front instead of silver. That scheme would go on to be used on RPTA-owned buses between 2016 and 2018. In 2010, the City of Tempe introduced a variant of the new Valley Metro scheme with a green front instead of silver on one New Flyer L40LFR. This became the official scheme for all Tempe-owned buses starting with

10011-635: The LINK scheme for RPTA-owned buses, this time with a darker shade of purple with the swoosh becoming lime-colored. This livery became adopted by the Phoenix-owned fleet from 2020 onwards, but returning to a green-colored swoosh. In the early years of Valley Metro and throughout the 1990s, the Phoenix metropolitan area was the largest in the United States with transit service operating only Monday through Saturday, with no Sunday service or Saturday night service (after 8 p.m.) at all. Even on weekdays, some bus service ended as early as 7 or 8 p.m. This schedule

10152-718: The Media and Immersive eXperience Center in the ASU at Mesa City Center complex in 2022, offering programs from the Herberger Institute for Design and Arts including a film school with media production facilities and a theater. After launching a higher education initiative in 2012, Mesa became home to branch campuses of five private, liberal arts institutions: Albright College , Westminster College , Benedictine University , Upper Iowa University and Wilkes University . Albright College and Westminster College are no longer in

10293-474: The Phoenix area, Phoenix–Mesa Gateway Airport , located in the southeastern corner of the city. In separate studies in 2014 and 2017, researchers determined Mesa to be "America's most conservative city". The history of Mesa dates back at least 2,000 years to the arrival of the Hohokam people. The Hohokam, whose name means "All Used Up" or "The Departed Ones", built the original canal system. The canals were

10434-401: The RPTA board of directors chose that name, the logo, and color scheme as described below. At this time, Phoenix Transit System and Mesa Sunrunner were rebranded as Valley Metro, and several new routes operating under the RPTA were started. Prior to the formation of the RPTA, the bus route structure of Phoenix Transit System was quite different, both in terms of numbering and routes. Previously,

10575-670: The Red Line, which was operated by both Phoenix and Tempe and used Valley Metro and BOLT branded vehicles). All of the BOLT buses were repainted into standard Valley Metro colors (they still have a different interior from other Valley Metro buses) and the Scottsdale Connection buses were replaced. However, before the merger, the systems were featured in the Valley Metro Bus Book and had the same fare structure as

10716-446: The Solar System . Long-term secular change in sunspot number is thought, by some scientists, to be correlated with long-term change in solar irradiance, which, in turn, might influence Earth's long-term climate. The solar cycle influences space weather conditions, including those surrounding Earth. For example, in the 17th century, the solar cycle appeared to have stopped entirely for several decades; few sunspots were observed during

10857-443: The Sun as yellow and some even red; the cultural reasons for this are debated. The Sun is classed as a G2 star, meaning it is a G-type star , with 2 indicating its surface temperature is in the second range of the G class. The solar constant is the amount of power that the Sun deposits per unit area that is directly exposed to sunlight. The solar constant is equal to approximately 1,368 W/m (watts per square meter) at

10998-424: The Sun extends from the center to about 20–25% of the solar radius. It has a density of up to 150 g/cm (about 150 times the density of water) and a temperature of close to 15.7 million kelvin (K). By contrast, the Sun's surface temperature is about 5800 K . Recent analysis of SOHO mission data favors the idea that the core is rotating faster than the radiative zone outside it. Through most of

11139-438: The Sun into a red giant . This process will make the Sun large enough to render Earth uninhabitable approximately five billion years from the present. After the red giant phase, models suggest the Sun will shed its outer layers and become a dense type of cooling star (a white dwarf ), and no longer produce energy by fusion, but will still glow and give off heat from its previous fusion for perhaps trillions of years. After that, it

11280-413: The Sun's magnetic field . The Sun's convection zone extends from 0.7 solar radii (500,000 km) to near the surface. In this layer, the solar plasma is not dense or hot enough to transfer the heat energy of the interior outward via radiation. Instead, the density of the plasma is low enough to allow convective currents to develop and move the Sun's energy outward towards its surface. Material heated at

11421-398: The Sun's core by radiation rather than by convection (see Radiative zone below), so the fusion products are not lifted outward by heat; they remain in the core, and gradually an inner core of helium has begun to form that cannot be fused because presently the Sun's core is not hot or dense enough to fuse helium. In the current photosphere, the helium fraction is reduced, and the metallicity

11562-437: The Sun's core fuses about 600 billion kilograms (kg) of hydrogen into helium and converts 4 billion kg of matter into energy . About 4 to 7 billion years from now, when hydrogen fusion in the Sun's core diminishes to the point where the Sun is no longer in hydrostatic equilibrium , its core will undergo a marked increase in density and temperature which will cause its outer layers to expand, eventually transforming

11703-403: The Sun's horizon to Earth's horizon in about 8 minutes and 20 seconds, while light from the closest points of the Sun and Earth takes about two seconds less. The energy of this sunlight supports almost all life on Earth by photosynthesis , and drives Earth's climate and weather. The Sun does not have a definite boundary, but its density decreases exponentially with increasing height above

11844-499: The Sun's life, energy has been produced by nuclear fusion in the core region through the proton–proton chain ; this process converts hydrogen into helium. Currently, 0.8% of the energy generated in the Sun comes from another sequence of fusion reactions called the CNO cycle ; the proportion coming from the CNO cycle is expected to increase as the Sun becomes older and more luminous. The core

11985-551: The Sun's life, they account for 74.9% and 23.8%, respectively, of the mass of the Sun in the photosphere. All heavier elements, called metals in astronomy, account for less than 2% of the mass, with oxygen (roughly 1% of the Sun's mass), carbon (0.3%), neon (0.2%), and iron (0.2%) being the most abundant. The Sun's original chemical composition was inherited from the interstellar medium out of which it formed. Originally it would have been about 71.1% hydrogen, 27.4% helium, and 1.5% heavier elements. The hydrogen and most of

12126-438: The Sun, to reach the surface. Because energy transport in the Sun is a process that involves photons in thermodynamic equilibrium with matter , the time scale of energy transport in the Sun is longer, on the order of 30,000,000 years. This is the time it would take the Sun to return to a stable state if the rate of energy generation in its core were suddenly changed. Electron neutrinos are released by fusion reactions in

12267-402: The Sun. The reason is not well understood, but evidence suggests that Alfvén waves may have enough energy to heat the corona. Above the temperature minimum layer is a layer about 2,000 km thick, dominated by a spectrum of emission and absorption lines. It is called the chromosphere from the Greek root chroma , meaning color, because the chromosphere is visible as a colored flash at

12408-525: The Valley have their own Rideshare department, called Capitol Rideshare. The table at the bottom shows the current rate structure for the Valley Metro system, as of August 19, 2024. The Copper Card was officially launched on August 19, 2024 which will replace paper passes. Valley Metro Rail shares its fare system with the Valley Metro Bus system but uses a proof-of-payment system to allow for simplified boarding and platform access. Passes or

12549-438: The approval of the Transit 2000 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), which involved a new 0.4 percent sales tax in the city of Phoenix, with the other cities approving similar measures around the same time). In 2002, the cities of Tempe and Scottsdale merged BOLT (Better Options for Local Transit) and Scottsdale Connection into the Valley Metro system in order to unify the Valley Metro brand and to reduce confusion (especially along

12690-486: The beginning and end of total solar eclipses. The temperature of the chromosphere increases gradually with altitude, ranging up to around 20,000 K near the top. In the upper part of the chromosphere helium becomes partially ionized . Above the chromosphere, in a thin (about 200 km ) transition region, the temperature rises rapidly from around 20,000 K in the upper chromosphere to coronal temperatures closer to 1,000,000 K . The temperature increase

12831-722: The board members for a one-year term. The two largest operators of bus service are the city of Phoenix and the Regional Public Transportation Authority (operating multi-city routes and services primarily in Mesa , Chandler , Gilbert , and Tempe ). Circulator service in Glendale is operated by the city of Glendale directly, the Scottsdale Trolley circulators are contracted by the city of Scottsdale, and intra-city paratransit service in

12972-832: The boundaries of their respective cities. Service area boundaries vary by city, with some cities (specifically Avondale, El Mirage, Goodyear, Mesa, Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, Tempe, and Tolleson, as well as unincorporated areas of Maricopa County) only offering service within .75 miles (1.21 km) of a fixed bus route while other cities offer service in a larger area (Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Peoria, and Surprise offering city/town-wide service, and Phoenix offering city-wide service south of Jomax Road). To handle overflow demand, some trips on Valley Metro Paratransit and Phoenix Dial-A-Ride are outsourced to local taxi companies or to non-emergency medical transportation providers. Other commuting options are coordinated by Valley Metro's Rideshare department, funded by contracts with Maricopa County and

13113-512: The bus system was based on a "hub-and-spoke" structure with most routes starting from downtown Phoenix. These routes were split in half by Central Avenue , which most routes used to access downtown Phoenix. For example, the western half of Van Buren Street was served by route 3W, and the eastern half of Van Buren Street was served by route 3E. Most bus routes inherited a seemingly arbitrary, but chronologically assigned, system from their Phoenix Street Railway heritage (for example, route 0-Central

13254-404: The cities of Glendale and Peoria are operated by the respective cities directly. The RPTA operates a customer service, marketing and long-range transit planning operation from headquarters in downtown Phoenix which is shared among all Valley Metro member cities. A few routes which operate within several member cities have their funding and operations shared between those cities. Some RPTA funding

13395-439: The cities of Phoenix, Paradise Valley, Glendale, and Peoria, as well as regional trips (defined as trips that begin or end outside the boundaries of Phoenix, Paradise Valley, Glendale, or Peoria, with the other end of the trip within the boundaries of those cities/towns). Phoenix Dial-A-Ride operates trips within the Phoenix city limits and the town of Paradise Valley. Glendale Dial-A-Ride and Peoria Dial-A-Ride operate trips within

13536-462: The city is provided by two airports. Falcon Field , located in the northeastern part of the area, was established as a training field for British RAF pilots during World War II and was transferred to the city at the end of the war. Falcon Field has 605 aircraft based there. Boeing builds the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter at a facility adjoining Falcon Field. Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport

13677-402: The city was 81.6% White , 2.4% Black or African American , 2.2% Native American , 2.0% Asian , 0.1% Pacific Islander , 9.3% from other races , and 1.3% from two or more races. 24.0% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 146,643 households, out of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.7% were married couples living together, 10.6% had

13818-580: The city, and Wilkes University has moved entirely online. Several area freeways serve the Mesa area, such as U.S. Route 60 , locally known as the Superstition Freeway, which runs between Apache Junction and Phoenix. It is also served by SR 87 and bypass loops Loop 101 , which skirts the western city limits as the Price Freeway, and Loop 202 , which bypasses the city on the north and east. The main east–west arterial road in Mesa

13959-527: The company provided enough for capital expenditures until the 1960s. During the Great Depression , WPA funds provided paved streets, a new hospital, a new town hall and a library. After the founding of the city, the elected official that most impacted the municipality was George Nicholas Goodman . He was mayor five different times during three different decades (1938–1942, 1946–1948, 1952–1956) (see: List of mayors of Mesa, Arizona ). As mayor, he

14100-460: The core, but, unlike photons, they rarely interact with matter, so almost all are able to escape the Sun immediately. However, measurements of the number of these neutrinos produced in the Sun are lower than theories predict by a factor of 3. In 2001, the discovery of neutrino oscillation resolved the discrepancy: the Sun emits the number of electron neutrinos predicted by the theory, but neutrino detectors were missing 2 ⁄ 3 of them because

14241-501: The core, converting about 3.7 × 10 protons into alpha particles (helium nuclei) every second (out of a total of ~8.9 × 10 free protons in the Sun), or about 6.2 × 10  kg/s . However, each proton (on average) takes around 9 billion years to fuse with another using the PP chain. Fusing four free protons (hydrogen nuclei) into a single alpha particle (helium nucleus) releases around 0.7% of

14382-401: The corona reaches 1,000,000–2,000,000 K . The high temperature of the corona shows that it is heated by something other than direct heat conduction from the photosphere. It is thought that the energy necessary to heat the corona is provided by turbulent motion in the convection zone below the photosphere, and two main mechanisms have been proposed to explain coronal heating. The first

14523-523: The disappearance of the Hohokam and before the arrival of the early settlers, little is known; explorers did not venture into this area. By the late 19th century near present-day Mesa, U.S. Army troops relocated the Apache , opening the way for settlement. In March 1877, Mormon pioneer Daniel Webster Jones and Henry Clay Rogers left St. George , Utah. Jones had been asked by Mormon officials to direct

14664-404: The downtown terminal. Routes that operated on multiple streets were also split (for example, route 22-Camelback Crosstown covers parts of today's route 50 and route 72). The route numbering system was simplified so that bus routes were numbered according to the block number of the street that they operated on. For example, route 50-Camelback is numbered because it runs mostly on Camelback Road, which

14805-400: The duration of a solar day on another planet such as Mars . The astronomical symbol for the Sun is a circle with a center dot, [REDACTED] . It is used for such units as M ☉ ( Solar mass ), R ☉ ( Solar radius ) and L ☉ ( Solar luminosity ). The scientific study of the Sun is called heliology . The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star that makes up about 99.86% of

14946-563: The external poloidal dipolar magnetic field is near its dynamo-cycle minimum strength; but an internal toroidal quadrupolar field, generated through differential rotation within the tachocline, is near its maximum strength. At this point in the dynamo cycle, buoyant upwelling within the convective zone forces emergence of the toroidal magnetic field through the photosphere, giving rise to pairs of sunspots, roughly aligned east–west and having footprints with opposite magnetic polarities. The magnetic polarity of sunspot pairs alternates every solar cycle,

15087-713: The fall of 2008, with the exception of the portion of route 72 (see below) that runs into Chandler , the section of route 156 that runs across Chandler, and routes 61 and 96, which established regular Sunday service in selected portions of the city of Mesa in July 2008. As of 2018, Sunday service is provided in the East Valley on all local routes except the 104-Alma School Road, 120-Mesa Drive, 128-Stapley Drive, 136-Gilbert Road, and 140-Ray Road. As of 2018, Routes 45-Broadway and 77-Baseline do not serve Mesa on Sundays, and Route 96-Dobson does not serve Chandler on Sundays. In 1989,

15228-404: The fused mass as energy, so the Sun releases energy at the mass–energy conversion rate of 4.26 billion kg/s (which requires 600 billion kg of hydrogen ), for 384.6  yottawatts ( 3.846 × 10  W ), or 9.192 × 10   megatons of TNT per second. The large power output of the Sun is mainly due to the huge size and density of its core (compared to Earth and objects on Earth), with only

15369-482: The heliosphere, forming the solar magnetic field into a spiral shape, until it impacts the heliopause more than 50 AU from the Sun. In December 2004, the Voyager 1 probe passed through a shock front that is thought to be part of the heliopause. In late 2012, Voyager 1 recorded a marked increase in cosmic ray collisions and a sharp drop in lower energy particles from the solar wind, which suggested that

15510-432: The helium in the Sun would have been produced by Big Bang nucleosynthesis in the first 20 minutes of the universe, and the heavier elements were produced by previous generations of stars before the Sun was formed, and spread into the interstellar medium during the final stages of stellar life and by events such as supernovae . Since the Sun formed, the main fusion process has involved fusing hydrogen into helium. Over

15651-535: The largest and most sophisticated in the prehistoric New World. Some were up to 90 feet (27 m) wide and 10 feet (3.0 m) deep at their head gates, extending for as far as 16 miles (26 km) across the desert. By AD 1100, water could be delivered to an area over 110,000 acres (450 km ), transforming the Sonoran Desert into an agricultural oasis. By 1450, the Hohokam had constructed hundreds of miles of canals, many of which are still in use. After

15792-691: The largest of the Maricopa Community Colleges , which enrolls over 24,000 full and part-time students, and Chandler–Gilbert Community College . The Polytechnic campus of Arizona State University lies in southeast Mesa. This satellite campus enrolls over 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students in scientific and engineering fields. A. T. Still University operates an Osteopathic Medical School in Mesa . Private for-profit institutions include Arizona College , Carrington College , DeVry University , Pima Medical Institute , and CAE Global Academy Phoenix . Arizona State University opened

15933-456: The late 1980s, this logo disappeared and buses were simply labeled "City of Phoenix Transit System". In 1993–1994, the RPTA changed the colors to a green and purple color scheme, with a green stripe and a large purple "V" on the passenger's side, and the reverse on the driver's side. In 2006, a simplified color scheme was introduced with the delivery of the C40LFR buses . This scheme is similar to

16074-505: The mass of the Solar System. It has an absolute magnitude of +4.83, estimated to be brighter than about 85% of the stars in the Milky Way , most of which are red dwarfs . It is more massive than 95% of the stars within 7 pc (23 ly). The Sun is a Population I , or heavy-element-rich, star. Its formation approximately 4.6 billion years ago may have been triggered by shockwaves from one or more nearby supernovae . This

16215-444: The neutrinos had changed flavor by the time they were detected. The Sun has a stellar magnetic field that varies across its surface. Its polar field is 1–2 gauss (0.0001–0.0002  T ), whereas the field is typically 3,000 gauss (0.3 T) in features on the Sun called sunspots and 10–100 gauss (0.001–0.01 T) in solar prominences . The magnetic field varies in time and location. The quasi-periodic 11-year solar cycle

16356-419: The past 4.6 billion years, the amount of helium and its location within the Sun has gradually changed. The proportion of helium within the core has increased from about 24% to about 60% due to fusion, and some of the helium and heavy elements have settled from the photosphere toward the center of the Sun because of gravity . The proportions of heavier elements are unchanged. Heat is transferred outward from

16497-414: The photospheric surface. Both coronal mass ejections and high-speed streams of solar wind carry plasma and the interplanetary magnetic field outward into the Solar System. The effects of solar activity on Earth include auroras at moderate to high latitudes and the disruption of radio communications and electric power . Solar activity is thought to have played a large role in the formation and evolution of

16638-455: The planets is weak and does not significantly affect the shape of the Sun. The Sun rotates faster at its equator than at its poles . This differential rotation is caused by convective motion due to heat transport and the Coriolis force due to the Sun's rotation. In a frame of reference defined by the stars, the rotational period is approximately 25.6 days at the equator and 33.5 days at

16779-473: The poles. Viewed from Earth as it orbits the Sun, the apparent rotational period of the Sun at its equator is about 28 days. Viewed from a vantage point above its north pole, the Sun rotates counterclockwise around its axis of spin. A survey of solar analogs suggest the early Sun was rotating up to ten times faster than it does today. This would have made the surface much more active, with greater X-ray and UV emission. Sun spots would have covered 5–30% of

16920-557: The poloidal to the toroidal field, but with a polarity that is opposite to the previous cycle. The process carries on continuously, and in an idealized, simplified scenario, each 11-year sunspot cycle corresponds to a change, then, in the overall polarity of the Sun's large-scale magnetic field. The Sun's magnetic field leads to many effects that are collectively called solar activity . Solar flares and coronal mass ejections tend to occur at sunspot groups. Slowly changing high-speed streams of solar wind are emitted from coronal holes at

17061-625: The poverty line, including 10.7% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over. The Mesa City Charter of 1967 established a Council-manager government consisting of a mayor and six Councilmembers who appoint a City Manager, City Clerk, City Attorney, auditor, and magistrates. The City Manager administers and staffs various departments. The council can also appoint citizens to Advisory Boards, Commissions, and Committees. In May 1998 voters approved Proposition 100 which created 6 geographical council districts. Councilmembers are elected to represent these districts for four year terms. The mayor

17202-414: The previous scheme except that the "V" has been removed (it obscured visibility from inside the buses in many cases), there is only a green stripe around the bus, the Valley Metro logo is displayed on the front, rear, and rear sides of the bus, and the sides are lettered "Valley" in purple and "Metro" in white. All new buses delivered to the RPTA from 2006 onwards feature a new interior very similar to that of

17343-448: The primordial Solar System. Typically, the solar heavy-element abundances described above are measured both by using spectroscopy of the Sun's photosphere and by measuring abundances in meteorites that have never been heated to melting temperatures. These meteorites are thought to retain the composition of the protostellar Sun and are thus not affected by the settling of heavy elements. The two methods generally agree well. The core of

17484-470: The probe had passed through the heliopause and entered the interstellar medium , and indeed did so on August 25, 2012, at approximately 122 astronomical units (18 Tm) from the Sun. The heliosphere has a heliotail which stretches out behind it due to the Sun's peculiar motion through the galaxy. On April 28, 2021, NASA's Parker Solar Probe encountered the specific magnetic and particle conditions at 18.8 solar radii that indicated that it penetrated

17625-435: The rest of the system, i.e. basically a different brand. In addition, in 2004, Proposition 400 was passed, which extended a half-cent sales tax originally earmarked entirely for freeways. The tax was revised to provide funding for not only freeways, but "supergrid" bus service, (concentrated along Phoenix grid streets), bus rapid transit, and light rail extensions. The rest of the service area still had no Sunday service as of

17766-545: The same seat fabric used on the RAPID commuter buses. On December 27, 2008, Valley Metro introduced a new logo, replacing the "V" logo that had been in place since 1993. The green and purple colors were retained, but the green was made lighter and the purple was made darker. The new logo as well as the new shades of green and purple were introduced on the Valley Metro LINK arterial bus rapid transit service, as well as

17907-437: The shorter wavelengths. Solar ultraviolet radiation ionizes Earth's dayside upper atmosphere, creating the electrically conducting ionosphere . Ultraviolet light from the Sun has antiseptic properties and can be used to sanitize tools and water. This radiation causes sunburn , and has other biological effects such as the production of vitamin D and sun tanning . It is the main cause of skin cancer . Ultraviolet light

18048-425: The solar cycle progresses toward its maximum , sunspots tend to form closer to the solar equator, a phenomenon known as Spörer's law . The largest sunspots can be tens of thousands of kilometers across. An 11-year sunspot cycle is half of a 22-year Babcock –Leighton dynamo cycle, which corresponds to an oscillatory exchange of energy between toroidal and poloidal solar magnetic fields. At solar-cycle maximum,

18189-417: The surface. The rotation rate was gradually slowed by magnetic braking , as the Sun's magnetic field interacted with the outflowing solar wind. A vestige of this rapid primordial rotation still survives at the Sun's core, which has been found to be rotating at a rate of once per week; four times the mean surface rotation rate. The Sun consists mainly of the elements hydrogen and helium . At this time in

18330-431: The tachocline picks up heat and expands, thereby reducing its density and allowing it to rise. As a result, an orderly motion of the mass develops into thermal cells that carry most of the heat outward to the Sun's photosphere above. Once the material diffusively and radiatively cools just beneath the photospheric surface, its density increases, and it sinks to the base of the convection zone, where it again picks up heat from

18471-424: The temperature of the corona, at least some of its heat is known to be from magnetic reconnection . The corona is the extended atmosphere of the Sun, which has a volume much larger than the volume enclosed by the Sun's photosphere. A flow of plasma outward from the Sun into interplanetary space is the solar wind . The heliosphere, the tenuous outermost atmosphere of the Sun, is filled with solar wind plasma and

18612-422: The tenuous layers above the photosphere. The photosphere has a particle density of ~10  m (about 0.37% of the particle number per volume of Earth's atmosphere at sea level). The photosphere is not fully ionized—the extent of ionization is about 3%, leaving almost all of the hydrogen in atomic form. The Sun's atmosphere is composed of five layers: the photosphere, the chromosphere , the transition region ,

18753-404: The top of the radiative zone and the convective cycle continues. At the photosphere, the temperature has dropped 350-fold to 5,700 K (9,800 °F) and the density to only 0.2 g/m (about 1/10,000 the density of air at sea level, and 1 millionth that of the inner layer of the convective zone). The thermal columns of the convection zone form an imprint on the surface of the Sun giving it

18894-418: The transfer of energy through this zone is by radiation instead of thermal convection. Ions of hydrogen and helium emit photons, which travel only a brief distance before being reabsorbed by other ions. The density drops a hundredfold (from 20 000 kg/m to 200 kg/m ) between 0.25 solar radii and 0.7 radii, the top of the radiative zone. The radiative zone and the convective zone are separated by

19035-404: Was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 42,817, and the median income for a family was $ 49,232. Males had a median income of $ 35,960 versus $ 27,005 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 19,601. About 6.2% of families and 8.9% of the population were below

19176-439: Was a huge hardship for a large portion of the Phoenix labor force (some of whom had to walk or bicycle long distances to and from work when bus service did not operate) and may have deterred some who wanted to relocate to the Phoenix area. That began to change in 2001, when Valley Metro expanded to Sunday service in Phoenix, Glendale , and Scottsdale , with Tempe having Sunday service since 1999 (this resulted in large part from

19317-430: Was directly involved in the process of acquiring land for both Falcon Field and Williams Field . With the opening of Falcon Field and Williams Field in the early 1940s, more military personnel began to move into the Mesa area. With the advent of air conditioning and the rise of tourism, population growth exploded in Mesa as well as the rest of the Phoenix area. Industry—especially early aerospace companies—grew in

19458-435: Was founded in the late 1940s by the original leaders of the town, and "Country Club Drive", the most prominent street in Mesa, was at one point the modest entrance to the club. The abandoned Fiesta Mall is located in West Mesa and owned by Westcor . Its anchors were Sears and Best Buy . It is located near several shopping centers, Mesa's Bank of America , and other retail stores, banks, and restaurants. Though deserted,

19599-417: Was originally numbered route 5). Express routes were numbered in the 80s and 90s (for example: route 510 serving Scottsdale was originally numbered route 90, which is today assigned to route 90-Dunlap/Cave Creek). In the mid-1980s, the route structure was changed to form the basis for the system operating today. Most routes were restructured so that they would stay on a single street rather than be based out of

19740-466: Was registered as a 1-square-mile (2.6 km ) townsite. The first school was built in 1879. In 1883, Mesa City was incorporated with a population of 300 people. Dr. A. J. Chandler, who would later go on to found the city of Chandler , worked on widening the Mesa Canal in 1895 to allow for enough flow to build a power plant. In 1917, the city of Mesa purchased this utility company. The revenues from

19881-473: Was the largest U.S. city with no public transit service on Sundays. The city has Sunday service available on Routes 40-Apache/Main, 45-Broadway, 61-Southern, 96-Dobson, 108-Elliot, 112-Country Club/Arizona, 156-Chandler/Williams Field, and 184-Power. Up until the final years of Southern Pacific passenger railroad service, the Sunset Limited passenger train used to make stops in Mesa. Air service in

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