The sun is the star at the center of the solar system and is the source of light and heat for planets like Earth. The sun has eight satellites that we call planets orbiting around it: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Without the sun we wouldn't be where we are today. Our star is the closest to our planet, so we are able to observe and study it and its solar phenomena such as sunspots, solar flares, solar winds, and prominences. The sun has a diameter of 1,390,000 kilometers and weighs approximately 1,989e30 kilograms. . With a temperature of 5,800 degrees Kelvin, the sun is so hot that no one can get close enough before it is burned away. The core of the sun is 2700 times hotter than the surface which is 15,600,000 degrees Kelvin and has a pressure of 250,000,000,000 atmospheres. It is composed mostly of hydrogen (70%) and helium (28%), and less than 2% is metals, but these percentages change slowly over time as the Sun continually converts hydrogen to helium in its core. more “layers”. The sun's photosphere is the visible sun, which is what we see. It is one of the coolest regions of the sun with only 6,000 degrees Kelvin. It is 500 kilometers deep and the sun's convection carries energy up to the photosphere. The chromosphere is only seen during an eclipse and appears as a thin pink line. For unknown reasons, the chromosphere is hotter than the photosphere and can range from 6,273 degrees Kelvin to 20,273 degrees Kelvin. At these high temperatures, hydrogen emits a reddish color, which is clearly seen in a bump. The chromosphere contains spicules, which are flame-like extensions of the chromosphere into the corona. The corona has a milky white glow during... the middle of the card... the speed of light! The sun hides many mysteries that we still can't explain, but it's still fascinating how we depend so much on it and without it we wouldn't be alive today. Works Cited NASA/Marshall Solar Physics. Network. November 28, 2011. Seeds, Michael A. and Dana Backman. Fundamentals of astronomy. Brooks/Cole Pub Co, 2010. "Solar Rockets" eBook. Network. November 28, 2011. "Solar flares, prominences, solar wind and coronal mass ejections." Enchanted learning. Network. November 28, 2011. "Solar Phenomena: The Sun, Sunspots, and Current Sunspot Activity | Outer Space Universe." Outer Space Information - Star Maps of Constellations - Space Images | Outer space universe. Network. November 28, 2011. "Solar relevance." Universe Today - Space and astronomy news. Network. November 28, 2011. "The Sun L Sun Facts and Pictures." The Nine Planets Solar System Tour. Network. November 28. 2011.
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