ASTRONOMY 101 LECTURE SUN FACTS

A ball of hot gases Made up of 70% hydrogen 28% helium 1.5% carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, and 0.5% all other elements Temperature: 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface Temperature: 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the center

SUN DISTANCES The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is 93,000,000 miles It takes light eight and a half minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth The diameter of the Sun is: 870,000 miles 109 times larger than the Earth's The volume of the Sun is big enough to hold over 1 million Earths

LOOKING AT THE SUN? DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN, EVEN WITH DARK OR SMOKED GLASSES. DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WITH BINOCULARS OR SMALL TELESCOPES. YOU CAN DAMAGE YOUR EYES! NEVER LOOKED AT THE SUN DIRECTLY

ULYSSES SPACECRAFT HISTORIC MISSION OF DISCOVERY Joint effort of NASA and the European Space Agency Launched October 1990 First spacecraft to orbit the Sun's North and South poles June 30, 2009: Mission team received a NASA Group Achievement Award June 10, 2009: Became the longest-running ESA- operated spacecraft overtaking the International Ultraviolet Explorer which logged 18 years and 246 days of operations