Sunday, June 2, 2013

By Haywood Hunter


The Sun is a star located at the center of the solar system. It is the most outstanding and largest feature seen and contains about ninety eight percent of the total solar systems mass. Its rotation varies approximately at twenty five days at the equator and thirty six days at the poles.

The Sun's diameter is about one million three hundred and ninety two thousand km, and about one hundred and nine times the size of Earth put together. A three quarter of it is comprised of hydrogen mass with the remaining components being helium and other gases. Studies show that it orbits about twenty five thousand light years from the galactic core and completes a revolution once in every two hundred and fifty million years.

Inside the Sun, there are 3 basic elements which are a Core, Radiative and Convective zones. The centre is called the core, and a great energy is made here through a process that is referred to as nuclear fusion. This energy is then transferred to the closest zone called the Radiative zone. The Radiative zone makes up eighty five percent of the Sun's radius.

Staying next to the Radiative zone is the Convective zone. The space it occupies makes up 15 percent of the entire surface of the Sun. Through a process called convection, energy rises from the core all the way to this zone.

The layer of the Sun that can be seen outside is called the photosphere and its temperature is six thousand degrees Celsius. It looks like it is always molting because of the unrest created as a result of internal eruptions.

The photosphere is made up of photons that break out into the surface, and that is why it's called the Sun's surface. It has a thickness of about five hundred kilometer, and cannot be seen using the bare eyes. It is gassy in nature and hot.

The area above the photosphere is called the Chromosphere. Solar energy passes through the Chromosphere from the core. The bright luminous hydrogen clouds are called Faculae and form sunspots above.

Studies show that the Sun has been active for the past 4.6 billion years and will keep burning for another five billion years or more. It also indicates that the Sun will start fusing helium at the end of its life into heavier elements and start to swell and grow so large to swallow the Earth. It will collapse after a billion years to what is known as white dwarf, and may take up to a trillion years to completely cool off and fade into what is called a black dwarf.




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