The Sun

Ancient Greeks called the it “Helios” and that the Romans called it “Sol”
It makes up around 99.86% of the Solar System’s mass.
Throughout the year the earth moves closer to the Sun, Earth is at it’s closest to the sun around January 2, it is farthest away around July 2 of each year
The temperature inside the Sun can reach 15 million degrees Celsius.
Energy is generated at the Sun’s core, by nuclear fusion, as Hydrogen converts to Helium. Hot objects expand, the Sun would explode if it weren’t for its enormous gravitational force. The temperature on the surface of the Sun is closer to 5,600 degrees Celsius.
One million Earths could fit inside the Sun.
A hollow Sun would fit around 960,000 spherical Earths. If squished inside with no wasted space, then around 1,300,000 would fit inside. The Sun’s surface area is 11,990 times that of the Earth’s.
The Sun contains 99.86% of the mass in the Solar System.
The mass of the Sun is approximately 330,000 times greater than that of Earth. It is almost three quarters Hydrogen, whilst most of the remaining mass is Helium.
The temperature inside the Sun can reach 15 million degrees Celsius.
Light from the Sun takes eight minutes to reach Earth.
The Sun is an average distance of 150 million kilometres from Light travels at 300,000 kilometres per second. dividing one by the other gives us an approximate time of 500 seconds, or eight minutes and 20 seconds. Although this energy reaches Earth in a few minutes, it will already have taken millions of years to travel from the Sun’s core to its surface.
The Sun travels at 220 kilometres per second.
The Sun is 24,000-26,000 light years from the galactic centre. It takes the Sun 225-250 million years to complete an orbit of the centre of the Milky Way.
The Sun will one day be about the size of Earth. After its red giant phase, the Sun will collapse. It will keep its enormous mass with the approximate volume of our planet. When this happens, it will have become a white dwarf.

Search

Recent Posts

Archives