THE SUN

By Miss O.

Center of 8 (9?) planets

Solar System is called the Solar System, because …

Remember “solar” means “things having to do with the sun (in Latin).

160 moons

and trillions

of asteroid

s, comets,

and meteors

Asteroids

An asteroid is a large rock in outer space. Some, like Ceres, can be very large, while others are as small as a grain of sand.

The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter.

Comet a celestial body

moving about the sun, usually in a highly eccentric orbit, consisting of a central mass surrounded by an envelope of dust and gas that may form a tail that streams away from the sun.

Halley’s Comet is the best-known of the short-period comets, and is visible from Earth every 75 to 76 years. We will see it again in 2062.

Meteors

a transient fiery streak in the sky produced by a meteoroid passing through the earth's atmosphere; also known as a shooting star

The Sun is 1 of billions of Stars.

The Sun is 109 -110 times the Earth’s diameter!

The Sun is 864,000 miles across.

The sun is an average-sized star.

It just seems bigger to us on Earth, because it is the closest star to the planet we live on!

The Sun rotates! It takes about 27 earth days for the sun to rotate.

Remember: rotate means “spin on its axis.”

The sun is a yellow star. Yellow stars are made of gases: hydrogen

and helium.

The Sun Creates Energy

In the form of heat and light.

The energy comes from the fusion of atoms.

The sun is the source of most of the energy on Earth.

The Sun has 4 layers of GASES.

1.Corona2.Chromosphere3.Photosphere

*Convection Zone

*Radiation Zone4.Core

1. Corona Reaches far out

into space Latin word for

“crown” It is seen as a

glow around the sun during a solar eclipse.

Streams of particles are called “solar wind.”

2. Chromosphere

2000-3000 km thick. When it can be seen it is

reddish in color This color is the origin of

its name (chromos meaning ``color'').

The faint flow of the chromosphere is due to an emission spectrum from hot, low density gases emitting at discrete wavelengths.

3. Photosphere

“sphere of light”

It is the part of the sun that we can see.

“surface of the sun”

Other layers to note…

Convective or Convection Zone Radiative zone spreads

and heats atomic particles

These gas particles “boil”

Radiative or Radiation Zone Energy from the core

heats just like a radiator heats the air in a room

4. Core

The center of the sun Very, very hot At the core, gravity pulls

all of the mass inward and creates an intense pressure. The pressure is high enough to force atoms of hydrogen to come together in nuclear fusion reactions -- something we try to mirror here on Earth.

27 million degrees Fahrenheit !