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The core is the hottest part of the Sun. Nuclear reactions here – where hydrogen is fused to form helium – power the Sun’s heat and light. Temperatures top 27 million °F (15 million °C) and it’s about 86,000 miles (138,000 kilometers) thick. The density of the Sun’s core is about 150 grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm³).
- Nuclear Fusion
- Abundance of Elements
- Additional Resources
- Bibliography
In the sun's core, gravitational forces create tremendous pressure and temperatures. The temperature of the sun in this layer is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius). Hydrogen atoms are compressed and fuse together, creating helium. This process is called nuclear fusion. As the gases heat up, atoms break apart into charg...
Astronomers who have studied the composition of the sun have catalogued 67 chemical elements in the sun. There may be more, but in amounts too small for instruments to detect. Here is a table of the 10 most common elements in the sun, according to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center:
For more information about the sun, read NASA Science'sSolar System Exploration page. Additionally, you can find the answers to more questions about the sun at the Natural History Museum UKwebsite.
"On the photon diffusion time scale for the sun". Astrophysical Journal, Part 1 (1992). https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1992ApJ...401..759M "On the time scale of energy transport in the sun". Solar Physics (2003). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226250698_On_the_time_scale_of_energy_transport_in_the_Sun "The random walk of radiation from t...
Oct 22, 2021 · By mass the composition of the sun is 92.1% hydrogen and 7.9% helium. Various metals make up less than 0.1% of the mass of the sun. The temperature of the sun’s surface is about 10,340 degrees ...
May 18, 2022 · The images reveal the composition of the Sun’s atmosphere because each of these wavelengths is characteristically emitted by different species of atoms at different temperatures. Along the top row the 99 nanometres (nm) image shows nitrogen at 85 000°C; the 70 nm image shows oxygen at 100 000°C; and the 75 nm image shows sulphur at 110 000°C.
Jul 1, 2020 · Science Jul 1, 2020 5:35 PM EDT. As astronomers gaze into the depths of space, they do so with unease: They don’t know precisely what the universe is made of. It’s not just the true nature of ...
Apr 11, 2022 · The Sun, like all stars, is an enormous ball of extremely hot, largely ionized gas, shining under its own power. And we do mean enormous. The Sun could fit 109 Earths side-by-side across its diameter, and it has enough volume (takes up enough space) to hold about 1.3 million Earths.
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Oct 19, 2023 · The sun is a gigantic sphere of glowing hot gases. In terms of the elements present, the sun is composed of two major gases— Hydrogen, which comprises about 71% of the sun’s mass, and Helium, which constitutes about 27.1% of the mass. Carbon, Nitrogen and Oxygen are the relatively heavier elements found in the star with a combined abundance ...
