Top 9 Facts About The Sun

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:
i. - Produces the AURORA BOREALIS or "The NORTHERN LIGHTS"
ii. - Causes Radio INTERFERENCE at certain times
iii. - Causes the characteristic TAILS of COMETS.
iv. - 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)