Sun

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 proceeds unmoved
    To measure off another day
    For an approving God.
    Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

    Who said it mattered
    What monkeys did or didn’t understand?
    They might not understand a burning-glass.
    They might not understand the sun itself.
    It’s knowing what to do with things that counts.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    The sun will not shine on any country that has borders with ours.
    Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)