The Sun By: Kristel Curameng and Courtney Lee

The Sun The Sun is the most prominent feature in our solar system. The largest object and contains approximately 98% of the total solar system mass. The Sun's outer visible layer is called the photosphere and has a temperature of 6,000°C (11,000°F). Solar energy is created deep within the core of the Sun.

The Sun The sun appears to have been active for 4.6 billion years and has enough fuel to go on for another five billion years or so. At the end of its life, the Sun will start to fuse helium into heavier elements and begin to swell up, ultimately growing so large that it will swallow the Earth.

The Rotation of the Sun At the equator the surface rotates once every 25.4 days. Near the poles it rotates as much as 36 days. This odd behavior is due to the fact that the Sun is not a solid body like the Earth.

The Core The temperature is 15.6 million Kelvin. The pressure is 250 billion atmospheres. At the center of the core the Sun's density is more than 150 times that of water.

The Corona The outer part of the Sun's atmosphere. The prominences appears in this region. Prominences are immense clouds of glowing gas that erupt from the upper chromosphere. The outer region of the corona stretches far into space and consists of particles traveling slowly away from the Sun. It can only be seen during total solar eclipses.

Surface of The Sun Called photosphere. Is at a temperature of about 5800 K. Sunspots are "cool" regions, only 3800 K (they look dark only by comparison with the surrounding regions). Sunspots can be very large, as much as 50,000 km in diameter. Sunspots are caused by complicated and not very well understood interactions with the Sun's magnetic field.

The Sun’s Power The Sun has about 386 billion billion megaWatts. Produced by nuclear fusion reactions. Each second about 700,000,000 tons of hydrogen are converted to about 695,000,000 tons of helium and 5,000,000 tons of energy in the form of gamma rays. As it travels out toward the surface, the energy is continuously absorbed and re- emitted at lower and lower temperatures so that by the time it reaches the surface, it is primarily visible light.

Summary The sun appears to have been active for 4.6 billion years. The sun is the largest object in the solar system. The temperature of the core is 15.6 million Kelvin. The corona is the outer part of the Sun's atmosphere. The Sun has about 386 billion billion megaWatts. The surface of the sun is called photosphere.

Works Cited "Sun." Views of the Solar System. Web. 11 Jan "The Sun L Sun Facts and Images." The Nine Planets Solar System Tour. Web. 11 Jan "The Sun: Our Closest Star, Plasma, Fusion, Solar Core, Solar Activity, Sunspots, Radiation, Flares, Prominences, Coronal Mass Ejections, Solar Magnetic Field, Solar Wind, Space Weather, Solar Myths." Windows to the Universe. Web. 11 Jan "The Virtual Tour of the Sun." Michielb.nl. Web. 11 Jan