General Knowledge of Sun

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System and is by far the most important source of energy

for life on Earth. It is a nearly perfect spherical ball of hot plasma, with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth, and it has a mass about 330,000 times that of Earth, accounting for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Chemically, about three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen, whereas the rest is mostly helium, and much smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon and iron.

The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star (G2V) based on spectral class and it is informally referred to as a yellow dwarf. It formed approximately 4.567 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Most of this matter gathered in the center, whereas the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that became the Solar System. The central mass became increasingly hot and dense, eventually initiating thermonuclear fusion in its core. It is thought that almost all stars form by this process. The Sun is roughly middle age and has not changed dramatically for four billion years, and will remain fairly stable for four billion more. However, after hydrogen fusion in its core has stopped, the Sun will undergo severe changes and become a red giant. It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of Mercury, Venus, and possibly Earth.

The enormous effect of the Sun on the Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times, and the Sun has been regarded by some cultures as a deity. Earth's movement around the Sun is the basis of the solar calendar, which is the predominant calendar in use today.

1. The Sun is a star that is in the center of the Solar System
2. The Sun is recognized as having the largest mass in our Solar System.
3. It has a diameter of about 1,392,684 km, about 109 times that of Earth
4. The sun is the closest star to Earth, at a mean distance from our planet of 149.60 million km
5. Sun fuses 620 million metric tons of hydrogen each second.
6. At the core, the temperature is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius)
7. In February 1974, Skylab was the first manned spacecraft to study the Sun.
8. Solar flares occur when magnetic fields of the Sun come together and cause huge explosions on the Sun’s surface.
9. Solar flares produce bursts of electromagnetic radiation, x-rays, ultraviolet radiation, visible light, and radio waves.
10.