Simple Guide to our Solar System: The Sun

THE SUN

The Basics

The Sun is at the center of our solar system. It is a hot ball of glowing gas and its influence extends to the outer edges of our solar system. The Earth, weather, climate, and life as we know it would not be the same without the Sun! Our sun is middle-aged, it is about 4.6 billion years old and it is the largest object in our solar system.

Characteristics

The Sun is a G-type main sequence star also known as a yellow dwarf. The surface temperature is about 5200 - 6000 K (8900 - 10340 F) and its luminosity is stellar classification V of spectral type G.

To simplify this classification, a G type star is going through a process of converting the element hydrogen to helium. Believe it or not, the Sun is actually white! It appears yellow through the Earth's atmosphere, but if you were to go into outer space, past the Earth's atmosphere you would see a white Sun. As a matter of fact, G type stars range from white to a very light yellow color. Really, the most important thing about the Sun's G type is that it converts hydrogen to helium, it is 5200- 6000 K, and it's color ranges from white to a very light yellow.

Our Sun is also known as a Main Sequence star this is explained well in the You Are Made of Star Dust! post. The Sun is nearly 1.4 million miles in diameter, and the mass is an incredible 333,060 kilograms TIMES the Earth. The Sun is huge compared to all other objects in our solar system as depicted by the image below! 

Compared to the Earth, the Sun is so large, 1 million times more large, that it would take about 1.3 million Earths to fill the Sun.

 There are 6 layers that make up the Sun. We will start from the inside and move outward. The Inner core is where nuclear fusion occurs and creates energy. The Radiative zone is where that energy is transmitted through radiation. The convective zone is the area of convection currents where heat is. Those three layers compose the internal structures of the Sun.  The Photosphere is the visible surface of the Sun, it is what we are most familiar with when we see photographs of the Sun. The chromosphere appears red and is visible at the time of a solar eclipse it also releases UV radiation. Lastly, the corona is a plasma that surrounds the Sun and is visible during a total solar eclipse, observable with a coronagraph. The corona extends millions of kilometers into space. 

When will the Sun die?

Sadly, all things come to an end. Fortunately for us, our star does not have enough mass to go supernova. Our Sun is a main sequence star which means it is fusing hydrogen into helium. After about 5 billion years, there will be no more hydrogen to fuse and the Sun will expand into a Red Giant. The Sun will engulf Mercury, Venus, and quite possibly the Earth. Even before the Sun becomes a Red Giant, the luminosity, or how bright the Sun shines, will have nearly doubled, and the Earth will be even hotter than Venus. 

There are many more sources out there about the Sun! If you want to know more information about the Sun, please use your resources appropriately! This is just a simple quick guide to understanding the Sun. 

The next stop on your journey through the solar system is Mercury; Click Here!!

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