10 Scientific facts about the Sun you might know. Do not worry if you do not know. We will let you know in this post.
The Sun is ball of gases composed of 74% hydrogen and 24% helium. Other elements, such as oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron, make up the remaining 2%.
Hydrogen atoms in the Sun fuse and form Helium. This generates enormous light and heat. This process is called Nuclear fusion.
The Sun it 109 times larger than the Earth. Its diameter is about 1.4 million kilometers (870,000 miles). it could fit more than a million Earths inside.
From the Sun to Earth, light takes around 8 minutes and 20 seconds to travel. So, the sun that you see now is actually 8 minutes and 20 seconds ago.
Darker areas on the Sun are called Sunspots, while the intenese bursts of energy and radiations are called solar flares.
The Sun constantly emits a stream of charged particles known as the solar wind. This solar wind interacts with the Earth's magnetic field and can affect satellites and communication systems.
A solar cycle is approximately 11-years long. During this time Solar maximum (increase in sunspots and solar flares) and solar minimum are observed.
Sun is a middle-aged star about 4.6 billion years old. It will live for another 5 billion years till all the Hydrogen is used up. The Sun will then change into a dwarf star.
Sun's strong gravitational pull is strong enough to hold all the planets in our solar system. You can imagine that all celestial movements in our solar system is managed by its gravity.
When charged particles of Solar flares interact with Earth's magnetic field, it creates beautiful lights around poles. These are call Auroras.