Is the Sun Really Yellow?

Although the sun is actually white, it appears yellow when seen from Earth. We see the sunlight after it’s been filtered through the earth’s atmosphere. The air in the earth’s atmosphere scatters the blue component, making the sky appear blue and the sunlight yellow.

The following is a chart of some facts about the sun.

Mass of the Sun

The Sun is the biggest thing in our solar system. All of the planets, asteroids, and everything else in our solar system doesn’t even come close to how big the Sun is. The Sun is over 330,000 times bigger than Earth. Just the Sun’s mass takes up 99.8% of the solar system!

Inside the Sun

Inside the Sun there is an atom hitting another atom every .13 seconds. It takes more than a million years for energy from the Sun’s core to reach the surface of the Sun. The reason for this is that the sun has five different zones for the energy to pass through. The zones are: 1) the core, 2) the radiation zone, 3) the convection zone, 4) the photosphere, 5) and the chromosphere. Then it takes eight minutes for it to get to Earth.

The Core

Just the core of the sun is 27 times bigger than Earth! The temperature is a whopping 27 million degrees F. It gets that hot because of the nuclear fusion inside. Hydrogen atoms are combined with each other to make helium atoms. That process is called nuclear fusion.

Radiation Zone

The matter near the center of the sun is packed so tightly that the atoms carrying energy (that were produced during nuclear fusion) have trouble finding their way through. Then they bounce from particle to particle in a "random walk pattern," when the atoms bounce randomly around. The heat from this process makes the atoms spread though this area in waves.

Convection Zone

The energy is carried from the radiation zone outward through the convection zone. Then the convection zone carries the energy up to the surface.

Photosphere

The sun’s surface is the photosphere. Convection cells as big as 600 miles across bubble up on the surface with more energy. This makes the surface a rough or grainy appearance. The sunshine we see on the earth is from the photosphere. That is also the only part of the sun we can see directly.

Space: Everything You Need to Know and Beyond. </J0112388/> Last visited: December, 2001.

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