Sun Facts

Each day the sun causes about one trillion tons of water to evaporate.

The Earth radiates back into space as much heat as it receives from the sun.

Astronomers once believed a planet named Vulcan existed between Mercury and the Sun.

If you were standing on Mercury, the Sun would appear 2.5 times larger than it appears from Earth.

By weight, the sun is 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, 1.5% carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, and 0.5% all other elements.

In 1890, there was no sunshine for the whole month of December in Westminster in London.

Panama, because of a bend in the isthmus, is the only place in the world where one can see the sun rise on the Pacific Ocean and set on the Atlantic.

The surface of Venus is actually hotter than Mercury's, despite being nearly twice as far from the Sun.

It takes approximately 12 years for Jupiter to orbit the sun.

Honeybees navigate using the sun as a compass, even when it is hidden behind clouds.

Only five percent of the stars in our galaxy are larger than the Sun.

The Sun contains 99.8 percent of the total mass of the solar system.

The Sun is approximately 149 million kilometers from the earth.

The Sun is flattened on the top and the bottom.

A galaxy of typical size about 100 billion suns produces less energy than a single quasar.

A white dwarf has a mass equal to that of the Sun, but a diameter only about that of Earth.

All the coal, oil, gas, and wood on Earth would only keep the Sun burning for a few days.

The first populated land where the Sun will rise on a new day is the Chatham Islands.

Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer living about 200 B.C., reportedly was the first person to declare that the Earth revolved around the sun.

In the city of Reykjavik, Iceland, one can see the stars eighteen hours a day during the heart of the winter. During the summer, sunlight is visible 24 hours a day.

Because of the speed at which Earth moves around the Sun, it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than 8 minutes.

On Venus, the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east, the opposite of the Earth.

Four million tons of hydrogen dust are destroyed on the Sun every second.

The Sun's total lifetime as a star capable of maintaining a life-bearing Earth is about 11 billion years.

The Sun is approximately 75% hydrogen, 25% helium by mass.

The Tarantula nebula is thought to contain a huge star of over 1,000 times the mass of the Sun.

The Sun shrinks five feet every hour.

There may be a giant black hole at the center of our galaxy, weighing as much as 4 million Suns. The black hole may be capturing stars, gas, and dust equivalent to the weight of three Earths every year.

The planet Venus does not tilt as it goes around the Sun, so consequently, it has no seasons.

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