Wednesday 17 July 2013

Sun Facts

The Sun is 149,597,893 km from earth and has a diameter of 1,391,940 km.This is more than 100 times larger than earth. Its mass is equivalent to 99.98 percent of mass of the entire Solar System.

Elements - The Sun is mostly made up of two light gases,75 percent hydrogen and 23 percent helium, with relatively small quantities of other elements- including metals such as gold. Helium was discovered in the Sun before it was detected on earth. Its name comes from helios, the Greek word for sun.

Temperature - The sun has a surface temperature of 5,880 K but it can be 56,000,000 K at its core.(K means Kelvin). At the Sun's center,nuclear fusion constantly changes hydrogen into helium , and  the energy and heat released from this process rise to the surface . The yellow surface we see is called the photosphere.

The corona - The outermost layer of the Sun extends millions of kilometers into space but is visible only during eclipses.At a height of 75,000 km in the corona, the temperature may reach 2,000,000 K.

Rotation - The Sun rotates once every 25.4 days , but because it is not solid , the poles spin at a different rate,taking as much as 36 days to complete a single revolution.

Solar eclipse - When the Moon is between Earth and the Sun , it blocks out the light causing a partial or total eclipse .

Sources : Whitaker's world of facts

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