The Sun (Sol)
A brilliant ball of plasma, the Sun is the heart of the solar system. Without it, Earth wouldn't have life, the entire solar system would've just been a cloud of gas and dust floating in space. The source of heat and light, we all have reasons to love and dislike the Sun.
Sun Stats
Mass: 332 948 times Earth
Diameter: 1 391 400 km
Volume: 1 304 000 times Earth
Gravity: 28 times Earth (274 N/kg)
Average Distance from Earth: 149 598 262 km
Temperature: 5505 C (5778 K)
Rotation: 609.12 hours
Type: G2 V star (yellow main sequence star)
Namesake: Sol was the Roman god of the Sun. His Greek form is Helios.
Diameter: 1 391 400 km
Volume: 1 304 000 times Earth
Gravity: 28 times Earth (274 N/kg)
Average Distance from Earth: 149 598 262 km
Temperature: 5505 C (5778 K)
Rotation: 609.12 hours
Type: G2 V star (yellow main sequence star)
Namesake: Sol was the Roman god of the Sun. His Greek form is Helios.
Sun Facts
- THE SUN IS NOT MADE OF GAS. "Gas" is not the correct term for the Sun's composition. In the Sun, "gas" is heated so much that negatively charged particles inside atoms break free. This fourth state of matter is called "plasma." (Yes, there are more than three states of matter)
- THE SUN'S SURFACE IS CRAZY! If you removed the glare from the Sun, the first thing you'll notice are sunspots: darker, cooler areas on the Sun. They appear and disappear through cycles that are 11.4 years on average. 2008 - 2019 is a period of greater sunspots, 2014 being the absolute maximum. If you were to take a picture of the Sun with certain filters, you may start to notice many other interesting features. Around sunspots are faculae. A facula is a brighter, hotter area on the Sun. Through an ultraviolet filter (image below), loops of plasma called solar prominence spring from the sunspots. Bursts called solar flares may also occur.
- THE SUN HAS SOLAR WINDS. The Sun emits a stream of charged particles called solar winds. These winds fly for 13.5 trillion km before being stopped by winds from other stars. Thankfully, the Earth has a magnetic field and atmosphere that protect us from the solar winds. When the charged particles collide with our atmosphere, the aurora borealis and aurora australis (Northern and Southern lights) dance across the night.
- SUNLIGHT TAKES 8 MINUTES 19 SECONDS TO REACH EARTH. Light is the fastest thing in the Universe, it flies 299 792.458 km in one second. It takes 8 minutes and 19 seconds for that speed to fly from the Sun to Earth.
- THE SUN'S CORE IS ITS POWER SOURCE. This is where all the nuclear fusion occurs. The core needs to be over 10 million C to achieve nuclear fusion. Our Sun's core is 15 709 700 C. Radiation (eg. heat and light) from the core takes over 100 000 years to reach the surface of the Sun.
- THE SUN IS BIG. The Sun's diameter is over twice the diameter of everything else in the solar system, and its mass is takes up 99.86% of the solar system. You can fit 1.304 million Earths inside of it. The nearest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, is 201 800 km across, only 0.145 times the Sun's diameter.
- THE SUN IS SMALL. Even though there are countless stars smaller than the Sun, there are also countless stars larger than the Sun. You can fit 78 Suns across the blue supergiant star Rigel A. If the red giant La Superba were placed in the solar system, it would reach Earth's orbit. Betelgeuse (pronounced a bit like "beetle-juice") is 1000 times the Sun's diameter, and the largest star known is approximately TWICE the size of Betelgeuse.