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THE SUN
CLASSIFICATION OF THE SUN
• Class G
• Color Yellow
• Surface Temperature 5,000 – 6,000 ºC
• Elements hydrogen and helium
• Greek word for Sun is Helios
STRUCTURE OF THE SUN
• Atmosphere
• Corona
• Chromosphere
• Photosphere
• Interior
• Convective Zone
• Radiative zone
• Core
CORONA
• Sun’s outer atmosphere
• Can extend outward 10 – 12 times distance of the suns
diameter
• Gases only visible during total solar eclipse
• 1,699,726.85 Celcius
CHROMOSPHERE
• 3,000 km thick
• Deep red in color
• Only seen during solar eclipse
• Element Helium was detected here in 1868
• 12,726.85 Celcius
PHOTOSPHERE
• Visible portion we see
• Gases thick to represent what we see as surface
• 600 km thick
• 5526.85 Celcius
CONVECTIVE ZONE
• 200,000 km thick
• Gases circulate in convection currents
• YouTube - Solar Convection Currents
RADIATIVE ZONE
• Dense region 300,000 km thick
• Takes light millions of years to pass through
• Atoms are densely packed
CORE
• Center of Sun
• Nuclear Fusion takes place here
• Radius of core = 200,000 km
• Temperature = 15,000,000
ENERGY PRODUCTION IN THE SUN
• Initial belief = Burning
• How can it burn for billions of years?
• Second thought = Shrinking
• Gravity causes sun to shrink releasing energy
• E=MC²
• Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared
• Nuclear fusion= process of two nuclei combining
NUCLEAR FUSION
FEATURES ON THE SUN
• Sunspots
• Prominence
• Solar flares
• Solar winds
SOLAR PROMINENCE
SOLAR FLARE
SUNSPOTS
SOLAR WINDS
AURORA BOREALIS
SIZE OF OUR STAR
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YouTube - Planets and stars size in scale