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» The Sun
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The sun is known as the star
at the centre of the solar system. About 5 billion
years ago, it formed from a huge cloud of gas
and dust.
It is an averaged-size, yellow star. It is also
middle-aged.
Do you know that about 109 Earths would fit across
the face of the sun! Even one large sunspot could
hold several Earths. While the sun’s diameter
is about 864 thousand miles.
About 99% of the mass in the Solar System is in
the Sun. |
Do you know how long does it take for the Sun to spin
on its axis from left to right? At one time, the Sun
takes about 26 days to spin.
Let us look at the composition of the Sun… The
outer atmosphere of the Sun is called the corona. While
its inner atmosphere is called the chromospheres. The
photosphere marks the Sun’s surface. Below the
photosphere, there are three zones – the convective
zone, the radiative zone and the core.
Every second, the Sun’s core converts about 700
million tons of hydrogen gas into 695 million tons of
helium gas. The remaining 5 million tons of matter is
converted to pure energy. This is equal to about 600
times the amount of water flowing over Niagara Falls
in one second.
The temperature of the Sun’s core may be the hottest
that you may get – it is 15 million degrees (K).
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Imagine
this…a thick pot of chilli or oatmeal that
is churning and burning, this is how the photosphere
more or less looks like. Heat, deep inside the
sun, rises from the radiative zone through the
convective zone until it bubbles at the surface
that is the photosphere. At the photosphere, things
will cool a bit and the gas begins to sink back
down through the convective zone. When the gases
reach the radiative zone, things heat up and the
whole process starts all over again.
The layer that holds sunspots is the photosphere.
The sunspots look darker because they are slightly
cooler than the rest of the photosphere, although
they are still very hot! The sunspots have a darker
centre called the Umbra and a lighter ring around
the outside called the Penumbra. |
Isn’t it amazing…it takes 50 million years
for the energy formed deep inside the Sun to reach the
Earth.
Earth only gets one-billionth of the total energy produced
by the Sun.
Light, travelling at 186 thousand miles per second,
takes just over 8 minutes to reach Earth from the Sun.
One million Earths could fit inside the Sun.
Apollo was both the Greek and Roman god of the Sun.
He brought life-giving heat and light to Earth and was
the patron god of musicians and poets.
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