- Diameter
- 1,392,700 km
- Mass
- 333,000 × Earth
- Surface temp.
- 5,500 °C
- Age
- 4.6 billion yrs
- Rotation
- ≈ 25 days (equator)
About The Sun
The Sun is a ball of hot plasma, mostly hydrogen and helium, powered by nuclear fusion in its core where hydrogen is converted into helium at about 15 million °C. It is roughly 4.6 billion years old and about halfway through its main-sequence life. In around 5 billion years it will swell into a red giant, engulfing Mercury and Venus, before shedding its outer layers and collapsing into a white dwarf. Its outer atmosphere, the corona, streams away as the solar wind, which shapes the magnetic bubble around the whole Solar System known as the heliosphere.
- Contains 99.8% of the Solar System's mass
- Light takes 8 min 20 s to reach Earth
- About 1.3 million Earths would fit inside