Sun

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Sun (disambiguation) and The Sun (disambiguation).

Sun

The Sun, captured through a clear solar filter

Names Sun, Sol,[1] Sól, Helios[2]

Adjectives Solar[3]

Symbol

Observation data

Mean distance from Earth 1 AU

149,600,000 km

93,000,000 mi

8 min 19 s, light speed[4]

Visual brightness −26.74 (V)[5]

Absolute magnitude 4.83[5]

Spectral classification G2V[6]

Metallicity Z = 0.0122[7]

Angular size 0.527–0.545°[8]

Orbital characteristics

Mean distance from Milky 24,000 to 28,000 light-years[9]

Way core

Galactic period 225–250 million years

 251 km/s (156 mi/s)

Velocity
orbit Galactic Center

 20 km/s (12 mi/s)

to stellar neighborhood

 370 km/s (230 mi/s)

to cosmic microwave

background[10]

Obliquity  7.25° (ecliptic)[5]

 67.23° (galactic plane)

Right ascension North pole 286.13° (286° 7′ 48″)[5]

Declination of North pole +63.87° (63° 52′ 12"N)[5]

Sidereal rotation period  25.05 days (equator)

 34.4 days (poles)[5]

Equatorial rotation velocity 1.997 km/s[11]

Physical characteristics
Equatorial radius 696,300 km

432,700 mi[12][13]

109 × Earth radii[11]

Flattening 0.00005[5]

Surface area 6.09×1012 km2

2.35×1012 sq mi

12,000 × Earth[11]

Volume  1.412×1018 km3

 1,300,000 × Earth

Mass  1.9885×1030 kg[5]

 4.3839×1030 lb

 332,950 Earths[5]

Average density 1.408 g/cm3

0.0509 lb/cu in

0.255 × Earth[5][11]

Age 4.6 billion years[14][15]

Equatorial surface gravity 274 m/s2

900 ft/s2[5]

28 × Earth[11]

Moment of inertia factor ≈0.070[5]

Surface escape velocity 617.7 km/s

55 × Earth[11]

Temperature  15,700,000 K (center)[5]

 5,772 K (photosphere)[5]

 5,000,000 K (corona)

Luminosity  3.828×1026 W[5]

 3.75×1028 lm

 98 lm/W efficacy
 Color (B-V) 0.656[16]

Mean radiance 2.009×107 W·m−2·sr−1

Photosphere composition by  73.46% hydrogen

mass
 24.85% helium

 0.77% oxygen

 0.29% carbon

 0.16% iron

 0.12% neon

 0.09% nitrogen

 0.07% silicon

 0.05% magnesium

 0.04% sulfur[17]

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a massive, hot ball of plasma,
inflated and heated by energy produced by nuclear fusion reactions at its core. Part of
this energy is emitted from its surface as visible light, ultraviolet, and infrared radiation,
providing most of the energy for life on Earth. The Sun has been an object of
veneration in many cultures. It has been a central subject for astronomical research
since antiquity.
The Sun orbits the Galactic Center at a distance of 24,000 to 28,000 light-years.[9] From
Earth, it is on average 1 AU (1.496×108 km) or about 8 light-minutes away. Its
diameter is about 1,391,400 km (864,600 mi; 4.64 LS), 109 times that of Earth. Its
mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth, making up about 99.86% of the total mass of
the Solar System.[18] Roughly three-quarters of the Sun's mass consists
of hydrogen (~73%); the rest is mostly helium (~25%), with much smaller quantities of
heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron.[19]
The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V), informally called a yellow dwarf, though
its light is actually white. It formed approximately 4.6 billion[a][14][20] years ago from
the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Most of
this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into an orbiting disk
that became the Solar System. The central mass became so hot and dense that it
eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core. It is thought that almost all stars form by
this process.
Every second, the Sun's core fuses about 600 billion kilograms (kg) of hydrogen into
helium and converts 4 billion kg of matter into energy. Far in the future, when hydrogen
fusion in the Sun's core diminishes to the point where the Sun is no longer in hydrostatic
equilibrium, its core will undergo a marked increase in density and temperature which
will cause its outer layers to expand, eventually transforming the Sun into a red giant.
This process will make the Sun large enough to render Earth uninhabitable
approximately five billion years from the present. Subsequently, the Sun will shed its
outer layers and become a dense type of cooling star (a white dwarf), and no longer
produce energy by fusion, but it will still glow and give off heat from its previous fusion
for trillions of years. After that it is theorized to become a super dense black dwarf,
giving off no more energy.
Etymology