Sun

Sun

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields. It has a diameter of about 1,392,684 km, about 109 times that of Earth, and its mass (about 2×1030 kilograms, 330,000 times that of Earth) accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Chemically, about three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen, while the rest is mostly helium. The remainder (1.69%, which nonetheless equals 5,628 times the mass of Earth) consists of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon and iron, among others.

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Famous quotes containing the word sun:

    The best sun we have is made of Newcastle coal, and I am determined never to reckon upon any other.
    Horace Walpole (1717–1797)

    The sun was rising at six,
    No longer a battered panache above snow. . . .
    Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)

    If the doctors cure
    then the sun sees it.
    If the doctors kill
    then the earth hides it.
    The doctors should fear arrogance
    more than cardiac arrest.
    Anne Sexton (1928–1974)