Sun is a huge, glowing ball of gases at the center of the solar system. The earth and the other eight planets travel around it. The sun is only one of billions of stars in the universe. As a star, there is nothing unusual about it. However, the sun is more important to people than any other star. Without the heat and light of the sun, there could be no life on the lands and in the seas of the earth.
The diameter (distance through the center) of the sun is about 865,000 miles (1,392,000 kilometers), about 109 times the diameter of the earth. Because the sun is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the earth, it does not appear larger than the moon. But the sun's diameter is 400 times as large as that of the moon. The sun is also almost 400 times farther from the earth than is the moon.
If the sun were the size of a skyscraper, the earth would be the size of a person. The moon would be the size of a cocker spaniel standing next to the person. Jupiter, the largest planet, would be the size of a small building. The nearest star also would be about the size of a skyscraper. But it would be about 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) away. |
