The Sun

Greek: Helios
Latin: Sol
Mean Distance to the Earth
149.6 Million km
At the speed of light , 299,792,458 m/s, how many minutes does the light of the sun travel to
reach the Earth?
8 minutes and 19 seconds
The sun was born about 4.6 billion years ago.
Many scientists think the sun and the rest of the solar system formed from a giant,
rotating cloud of gas and dust known as the solar nebula.
As the nebula collapsed because of its gravity, it spun faster and flattened into a disk.
Most of the material was pulled toward the center to form the sun.

Parts of the SUN

The CORE
is the central region where nuclear reactions consume hydrogen to form helium.
a temperature of 15 million degrees Celsius
s made of hot, dense gas in the plasmic state (ions and electrons)
The RADIATIVE ZONE
is the section of the solar interior between the innermost core and the outer convective
zone
is a layer of a star's interior where energy is primarily transported toward the exterior
In the radiative zone, energy generated by nuclear fusion in the core moves outward as
electromagnetic radiation.
The CONVECTIVE ZONE
A region of turbulent plasma between a star's core and its visible photosphere at the
surface, through which energy is transferred by convection.
The PHOTOSPHERE
is the visible surface of the Sun that we are most familiar with.
is a spherical surface that is perceived to emit light.
has a temperature between 4,500 and 6,000 K (4,230 and 5,730 C)
The CHROMOSPHERE
(literally, "sphere of color") is the second of the three main layers in the Sun's atmosphere
and is roughly 2,000 kilometers deep
The CORONA
is an aura of plasma that surrounds the sun
The word "corona" is a Latin word meaning "crown",
TACHOCLINE
This is a region where the sharp regime change between the uniform rotation of the
radiative zone and the differential rotation of the convection zone results in a large shear
a condition where successive horizontal layers slide past one another
ATMOSPHERE

The coolest layer of the Sun is a temperature minimum region

about 500 km above the photosphere, with a temperature of about 4,100 K.
During a total solar eclipse, when the disk of the Sun is covered by that of the Moon, parts
of the Sun's surrounding atmosphere can be seen.
It is composed of four distinct parts: the chromosphere, the transition
region, the corona and the heliosphere.
PHOTONS AND NEUTRINOS
High-energy gamma-ray photons initially released with fusion reactions in the core are
almost immediately absorbed by the solar plasma of the radiative zone, usually after
traveling only a few millimeters.
Neutrinos are also released by the fusion reactions in the core, but, unlike photons, they
rarely interact with matter, so almost all are able to escape the Sun immediately.