The Sun or Sol, is the star at the centre of our solar system and is responsible for the Earth’s climate and weather. The Sun is an almost perfect sphere with a difference of just 10km in diameter between the poles and the equator. The average radius of the Sun is 695,508 km (109.2 x that of the Earth) of which 20–25% is the core.
Star Profile
Age: 4.6 Billion Years
Type: Yellow Dwarf (G2V)
Diameter: 1,392,684 km
Circumference at Equator: 4,370,005.6 km
Mass: 1,989,100,000,000,000,000,000 billion kg (333,060 x Earth)
Surface Temperature: 5500 °C
Facts About The Sun
One million Earth's could fit inside the Sun:
If a hollow Sun was filled up with spherical Earth's then around 960,000 would fit inside. On the other hand if these Earth's were 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.
Eventually, the Sun will consume the Earth:
When all the Hydrogen has been burned, the Sun will continue for about 130 million more years, burning Helium, during which time it will expand to the point that it will engulf Mercury and Venus and the Earth. At this stage it will have become a red giant
The Sun will one day be about the size of Earth:
After its red giant phase, the Sun will collapse, retaining its enormous mass, but containing the approximate volume of our planet. When this happens, it will be called a white dwarf.
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 Sun is middle-aged:
At around 4.5 billion years old, the Sun has already burned off about half of its store of Hydrogen. It has enough left to continue to burn Hydrogen for approximately another 5 billion years. The Sun is currently a type of star known as a Yellow Dwarf
The temperature inside the Sun can reach 15 million degrees Celsius:At the Sun’s core, energy is generated by nuclear fusion, as Hydrogen converts to Helium. Because hot objects generally expand, the Sun would explode like a giant bomb if it weren’t for its enormous gravitational force.
The Sun generates solar wind:
This is a stream of charged particles, which travels through the Solar System at approximately 450 kilometres per second. Solar wind occurs where the magnetic field of the Sun extends into space instead of following its surface.
