Sun FactsAstronomy Class Lecture

What is the Sun?Is a ball of hot gases. Is 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, 1.5%

carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, and 0.5% all other elements.

The Sun's temperature is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface and 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the center.

The Sun DistancesThe average distance from the Earth to

the Sun is 93,000,000 miles. It takes light eight and a half minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth.

The diameter of the Sun is 870,000 miles, 109 times larger than the Earth's. Its volume is big enough to hold over 1 million Earths.

Looking at the sun?DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN, EVEN WITH

DARK OR SMOKED GLASSES. DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WITH

BINOCULARS OR SMALL TELESCOPES. YOU CAN DAMAGE YOUR EYES!

NEVER LOOKED AT THE SUN DIRECTLY

Studying the SunScientists study the sun with instruments on

the Ulysses spacecraft. Ulysses is a joint effort of NASA and the

European Space Agency.Ulysses was launched in October 1990. It is the first spacecraft to orbit the Sun's

North and South poles.