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Our subscribers' grade-level estimate for this page: 4th - 5th
Table of Contents Enchanted Learning
All About Astronomy
Site Index
Our Solar System Stars Glossary Printables, Worksheets, and Activities
The Sun The Planets The Moon Asteroids Kuiper Belt Comets Meteors Astronomers

THE SUN
Introduction to the Sun Solar Structure Size, Mass Flares, Solar Wind, Prominences Sun's Birth Solar Eclipses Activities,
Web Links
Solar Rotation Sunspots Sun's Death

The Size of the Sun

The Sun's diameter is 864,938 miles (1,391,980 km). This is almost 10 times larger than the planet Jupiter and about 109 times as big as the Earth. The volume of the Sun is 1,299,400 times bigger than the volume of the Earth; about 1,300,000 Earths could fit inside the Sun

As compared to other stars, however, the Sun is about average; red giants like Betelgeuse are about 700 times bigger than our Sun (and roughly 50 times as massive). Betelgeuse is also about 14,000 times brighter than the Sun. Red supergiants dwarf the Sun.

The Sun's apparent size in our sky is 32 arc minutes (it is the biggest object in the sky - 1 arc minute larger than the moon).

THE MASS OF THE SUN
The Sun's mass is roughly 1.99 x 1030 kg. This is about 333,000 times the mass of the Earth. The Sun contains 99.8% of all of the mass of the Solar System.

The mass of the sun is decreasing over time, as fusion reactions convert hydrogen into helium, releasing huge amounts of energy in the process.




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