1. What is the Sun?

The Sun is a star.

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2. What is the Sun made of?

The Sun is a sphere of gas. In the Sun scientists have found about 2/3 of the elements that are known on the Earth. Helium was found there even before it was found on the Earth. As these elements on the Sun are all light, it is possible that the rest of the known elements which are heavier can be found nearer the centre of the Sun.

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3. How big is the Sun?

The diameter of the Sun is 1,400,000 kilometres. That is 109 times the diameter of the Earth. The Sun's volume is 1,300,000 times that of the Earth, but its mass is only 330,000 times the mass of the Earth.

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4. How far from the Earth is the Sun?

The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is 150,000,000 kilometres.

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5. How hot is the Sun?

The temperature of the surface of the Sun is about 6,000° C. In the centre of the Sun the temperature is much higher.

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6. Does the Sun rotate upon its axis?

Yes, but not uniformly. The Sun is not a solid. It is a sphere of gas. Its rotation is different. It is faster near the equator of the Sun and slower near its poles. At its equator, the average rotational period of the Sun is 25 days, and at the poles it is 34 days.

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7. Does the Sun have an atmosphere?

We may say that the Sun is all atmosphere, as it is composed of materials in a gaseous state. There is, however, a definite central sphere of the Sun. This central sphere is surrounded by two levels of gases. These two levels are called the Sun's atmosphere.

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8. What is the central body of the Sun called?

The central body of the Sun is the photosphere, or sphere of light. This is the Sun that we see.

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9. What are the two layers of the solar atmosphere?

Directly above the photosphere is the chromosphere. The outermost atmosphere of the Sun, above the chromosphere, is the corona.

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10. What is the chromosphere?

The chromosphere is the first of the two layers of atmosphere that surround the photosphere. Chromosphere means the sphere of colour. And it is called this because it has a light red colour. The chromosphere extends for several thousand kilometres above the photosphere.

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