Astronomy Class Lecture

What is the Sun? Is a ball of hot gases. Is 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, 1.5% carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, and 0.5% all other elements. The Sun's temperature is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface and 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the center.

The Sun Distances The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is 93,000,000 miles. It takes light eight and a half minutes to travel from the Sun to the Earth. The diameter of the Sun is 870,000 miles, 109 times larger than the Earth's. Its volume is big enough to hold over 1 million Earths.

Looking at the sun? DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN, EVEN WITH DARK OR SMOKED GLASSES. DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WITH BINOCULARS OR SMALL TELESCOPES. YOU CAN DAMAGE YOUR EYES! NEVER LOOKED AT THE SUN DIRECTLY

Studying the Sun Scientists study the sun with instruments on the Ulysses spacecraft. Ulysses is a joint effort of NASA and the European Space Agency. Ulysses was launched in October It is the first spacecraft to orbit the Sun's North and South poles.