The Sun is the star at the center of our solar system and it is responsible for the climate and weather conditions on Earth, it is a giant nuclear reactor, which is a source of energy to all planets in the solar system.
1. Compared to the Sun, our planet is very tiny. The Sun’s surface area is 11,990 times larger than the area of the Earth. It is so large that about 1,300,000 planets like Earth can fit inside of it.
2. The Sun weighs about 333,000 times as much as Earth, in addition, it contains 99.86% of all of the mass of the entire Solar System.
3. The Sun is a sphere of hot plasma with magnetic fields. About three-quarters of the Sun’s mass consists of hydrogen – 73%, the rest is mostly helium – 25%. It also contains oxygen, sulfur, magnesium, silicon, carbon, iron, neon, and nitrogen, but the total mass of these elements is less than 2%.
4. The Sun is an almost perfect spherical shape. The difference between the polar and equatorial diameters is only about ten kilometers.
5. The Sun constantly generates a huge amount of energy as a result of nuclear fusion, as Hydrogen converts to Helium, and the temperature inside of it can reach fifteen million degrees Celsius. The surface temperature is lower and is about 5600 degrees.
6. The Sun rotates around the Milky Way at a speed of 217 kilometers per second, making one revolution in 225-250 million years.
7. Light from the Sun takes eight minutes to reach Earth. Although this energy takes only a few minutes to travel an average distance of 150 million kilometers, it will already have taken millions of years to travel from the Sun’s core to its surface.
8. The ultraviolet (UV) light from the Sun has antiseptic properties and can be used to sanitize tools and water.
9. As the Earth moves around the Sun in an elliptical orbit, the distance between the Earth and the Sun varies from 147 to 152 million kilometers. This distance is called the Astronomical Unit (AU).
10. The age of the Sun is about 4.6 billion years and during this time it has already burned off about half of the hydrogen, but the reserves will be enough for approximately 5 billion years. The Sun is currently a type of star known as a Yellow Dwarf.
11. The Sun has a very strong magnetic field. Magnetic energy released by the Sun during magnetic storms causes solar flares. We see these as sunspots. In sunspots, the magnetic lines twist and they spin, much like a tornado would on Earth.
12. On September 2, 1859, was recorded the largest geomagnetic storm in history, caused fires as the enhanced electric current flowing through telegraph wires ignited recording tape at telegraph stations; northern lights were observed all over the world, even over the Caribbean.
