facts of sun ------------compiled

Although it may look empty , space is filled with gas and dust . Most of the material was hydrogen and helium , but some of it was made up of leftover  remnants from the violent death of stars. Waves of energy travelling thorough space pressed clouds of such particles closer together , and gravity causes them to collapse in on themselves . As the material drew together , gravity caused it to spin . The spin caused the cloud to flatten into a disc like a pancake . In the center , the material clumped clumped together to form a protostar  that would  eventually become the SUN .

 

• The Sun is a star found at the center of the Solar System.
• It makes up around 99.86% of the Solar System’s mass.
• At around 1,392,000 kilometres (865,000 miles) wide, the Sun’s diameter is about 110 times wider than Earth’s.
• Around 74% of the Sun’s mass is made up of hydrogen. Helium makes up around 24% while heavier elements such as oxygen, carbon, iron and neon make up the remaining percentage.
• Light from the Sun reaches Earth in around 8 minutes.
• The Sun’s surface temperature is around 5500 degrees Celsius (9941 degrees Fahrenheit), so pack plenty of sunscreen if you plan on visiting (remembering that the average distance from the Sun to the Earth is around 150 million kilometers).
• The Sun’s core is around 13600000 degrees Celsius!
• The Sun generates huge amounts of energy by combining hydrogen nuclei into helium. This process is called nuclear fusion.
• Because of the Sun’s huge influence on Earth, many early cultures saw the Sun as a deity or god. For example, Ancient Egyptians had a sun god called Ra while in Aztec mythology there is a sun god named Tonatiuh.
• The Sun produces a solar wind which contains charged particles such as electrons and protons. They escape the Sun’s intense gravity because of their high kinetic energy and the high temperature of the Sun’s corona (a type of plasma atmosphere that extends into space).
• Planets with strong magnetic fields such as Earth manage to deflect most of these charged particles as they approach.
• A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth.

1. The SUN is just ONE of about 100 billion STARS in our GALAXY.
2. It has a DIAMETER of 1,390,000 km
3. Its CORE temperature is 15 million º C.
4. Its SURFACE temperature is 5,500 ºC. Cooler (3,800 ºC) surface areas are called SUN SPOTS.
5. It is the LARGEST object in the SOLAR SYSTEM and makes up 99.8% of the total MASS of the Solar System.
6. It consists of 75% HYDROGEN and 25% HELIUM.
7. The ENERGY output of the Sun is about 386 billion megawatts and is produced by NUCLEAR FUSION, using Hydrogen as fuel.
8. Apart from HEAT and LIGHT, the Sun also emits a stream of CHARGED PARTICLES called the SOLAR WIND. The Solar Wind:-
a. - Causes Radio INTERFERENCE at certain times
b. - Produces the AURORA BOREALIS or "The NORTHERN LIGHTS"
c. - Causes the characteristic TAILS of COMETS.
d. - Alters the TRAJECTORY of SPACECRAFT
9. The Sun is about 4.5 BILLION YEARS old. It will probably continue to exist in its present FORM for about another 5 BILLION YEARS before RUNNING out of HYDROGEN.
10. There are NINE planets orbiting the SUN (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto)

There are eight planets and a large number of smaller objects orbiting the Sun. (Exactly which bodies should be classified as planets and which as "smaller objects" has been the source of some controversy, but in the end it is really only a matter of definition. Pluto is no longer officially a planet but we'll keep it here for history's sake.)

Planet	Distance(000 km)	Radius(km)	Mass(kg)	Discoverer	Date
Mercury	57,910	2439	3.30e23
Venus	108,200	6052	4.87e24
Earth	149,600	6378	5.98e24
Mars	227,940	3397	6.42e23
Jupiter	778,330	71492	1.90e27
Saturn	1,426,940	60268	5.69e26
Uranus	2,870,990	25559	8.69e25	Herschel	1781
Neptune	4,497,070	24764	1.02e26	Galle	1846