Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields. It has a diameter of about 1,392,684 km, about 109 times that of Earth, and its mass (about 2×1030 kilograms, 330,000 times that of Earth) accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Chemically, about three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen, while the rest is mostly helium. The remainder (1.69%, which nonetheless equals 5,628 times the mass of Earth) consists of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon and iron, among others.
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Famous quotes containing the word sun:
“The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home;
‘Tis summer, the darkeys are gay;
The corn-top’s ripe, and the meadow’s in the bloom,”
—Stephen Collins Foster (1826–1884)
“If you have wit, use it to please, and not to hurt; you may shine, like the sun in the temperature zones, without scorching. Here it is wished for; under the Line it is dreaded.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“The sun is but a morning star.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)