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PIC 0506

Sunset on earth

The Sun, or Sol, is an average-sized G-type Main Sequence star, or Yellow Dwarf star, that is the main parent star of the Earth. On Earth, the Sun rises from the east and sets on the west, most likely because the Earth rotates to its east.

The Sun is 1.3927 million km in diameter and is 1.989 x 10^30 kg in mass. Its massive gravity allows the Sun to gravitationally attract all the objects in the Solar System and keep them in a stable orbit around it. The Sun's surface temperature burns at a temperature of 5504 degrees Celsius and its core boils at a temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius. Why is it so hot? It's because its core goes through nuclear fusion that fuses hydrogen into helium, releasing extra energy and creating great amounts of light and heat.


Energy from the Sun—in the form of insulation from sunlight - supports almost all life on Earth via photosynthesis and drives the Earth's climate and weather.

About 74% of the Sun's mass is hydrogen, 25% is helium, and the rest is made up of trace quantities of heavier elements. Each second, more than 4 million tons of matter are converted into energy within the Sun's core, producing neutrinos and solar radiation. In about 3.91 billion years, in is predicted that the Sun will evolve into a red giant and then a white dwarf in 7 billion years, creating a planetary nebula in the Sun.

The Sun is a magnetically active star; it supports a strong, changing magnetic field that varies year-to-year and reverses direction about every eleven years. The Sun's magnetic field gives rise to many effects that are collectively called solar activity, including sunspots on the surface of the Sun, solar flares, and variations in the solar wind that carry material through 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 the solar system, and strongly affects the structure of Earth's outer atmosphere.

Many questions about the Sun remain unanswered, such as why its outer atmosphere has a temperature of over a million Kelvin while its visible surface (the photosphere) has a temperature of just 6,000 K. Others include the exact diameter of the sun and it's distance above the earth's surface. Current topics of scientific inquiry include the sun's regular cycle of sunspot activity, the physics and origin of solar flares and prominences, the magnetic interaction between the chromosome and the corona, and the origin of the solar wind.

What is the color of the Sun?[]

The true color of the sun never changes. She is white. However, it may look different at certain times of the day. During the day, it appears yellow to us, in the evening rather red, because of the rays passing through our atmosphere.

Trivia[]

Five billion years from now, İts fuel will be exhausted by swallowing Mercury, Venus and most likely Earth. After this phase is completed, it will be become a White Dwarf.


 The Solar System v·d·e 
Solar System XXVII
The Sun · Mercury · Venus · Earth · Mars · Ceres* · Jupiter · Saturn · Uranus · Neptune · Pluto* · Haumea* · Makemake* · Eris* · Dwarf Planet Candidates*
Planets · Dwarf Planets · Moons: Terran · Martian · Asteroidal

· Jovian · Saturnian · Uranian · Neptunian · Plutonian · Eridian

'Ceres * Pluto * Haumea * Makemake * Eris
Small bodies:   Meteoroids · Asteroids (Asteroid belt) · Centaurs · TNOs (Kuiper belt/Scattered disc) · Comets (Oort Cloud)
Hypothetical Bodies:   Vulcan · Planet 9 · Planet 10 · Tyche · Nibiru · Nemesis · more...
Planets with '*' are dwarf planets.
See also astronomical objects and the solar system's list of objects, sorted by radius or mass.
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