10 Interesting and Unusual Facts About the Sun

The Sun is the star at the center of our solar system. It is also what supports life on Earth. Without the heat that the Sun provides, life on Earth would cease to exist, as we know it. Because of its central role in everyone's lives, scientists have studied the Sun extensively, and have found quite a few interesting and unusual facts about this star.


1.Size

 The Sun's interior could fit 1.3 million planet Earths, and 109 planet Earths would be required to encircle the Sun's surface.



2.Time Frame

 NASA estimates the Sun's life expectancy to be about 9.5 to 10 billion years. The Sun has already been around for 4.5 billion years. When the Sun finally dies, it will swell up and swallow Earth, then become a small white dwarf.



3.Temperature

The surface temperature of the Sun is 5,800 degrees K (5,527 degrees C or 9,980 degrees F).



4.Solar System

 The Sun's mass accounts for 99.8 percent of the total mass of the solar system. The majority of the remaining 0.2 percent is gobbled up by Jupiter.




5.Brightness

 There are several stars, like Eta Carina and Betelgeuse, that are brighter than the Sun. The Sun is only the fourth brightest star that scientists have discovered so far (as of early 2010).


6.Atmosphere

The Sun's atmosphere and corona are actually hotter than its surface. The Sun's atmosphere is 100,000 degrees K, or 179,540 degrees Ft . But even hotter is the temperature of the corona, which can reach 1 million degrees K, or 1,799,540 degrees F.


7.Changing Temperatures

 The Sun is slowly heating up. The Sun becomes 10 percent more luminous every billion years. In about a billion years, the Sun will heat up so much that most life on Earth will die. The Earth will become completely void of any water. The only survivors might be bacteria.


8.Rotation

 Different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds. The hydrogen gas that forms the Sun causes a variation in rotation rates. Regions at the equator can take about 25 days to rotate, versus regions at the Sun's poles which can take about 36 days.


9.Composition

 The Sun is formed from mostly hydrogen and helium. Hydrogen makes up about 74 percent of its mass, and helium accounts for about 24 percent.


10.Oxygen

About 2 percent of the Sun is oxygen, along with nickel, iron and all other elements in the solar system.



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