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The Sun!. The Sun and The Solar System. The Sun is the star in the middle of our solar system. It is orbited by 8 major planets. Mercury Venus Earth Mars Jupiter Saturn Uranus Neptune. The Sun and the Solar System Cont. The sun makes up 99.85% of the solar system’s mass
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The Sun and The Solar System • The Sun is the star in the middle of our solar system. • It is orbited by 8 major planets • Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranus • Neptune
The Sun and the Solar System Cont. • The sun makes up 99.85% of the solar system’s mass • All the planets orbit the sun counterclockwise.
Classification • The sun is classified as a G2 dwarf star, because of its size, chemical makeup and temperature. • It is considered to be a medium sized yellow star
Chemical Makeup • The sun is made up of 2 main elements and a small concoction of other elements • 75% hydrogen • 23% helium • 2% heavier elements (i.e. iron)
Temperature • At its core, the sun’s temperature is about 15 million degrees Celsius • The temperature of the photosphere (visible layer of the sun) is approx 5778 Kelvin
Size • Diameter- 864,938 miles (109 times bigger than the Earth) • Mass- 2 X 10^30 (330,000 times the mass of the earth)
How old is the Sun? • The sun 4.5 billion years old! • This is considered “middle aged” • Age depends on a star’s mass. • When it reaches 7 billion years old the sun will begin to grow larger and become cooler, transitioning into a red giant.
