Sun stamp

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The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a hot-glowing sphere of gases where hydrogen is being turned into helium by the immense temperature and pressure of its core. This process releases enormous amounts of energy and makes the Sun shine. The bright solar disc sports a number of darker, cooler areas – sunspots – and is surrounded by a reddish layer of gases – the chromosphere – from which great tongues of glowing hydrogen burst out. Beyond these, the thin gases in the corona reach out for millions of kilometres into space. The Sun is thought to be around 4.57 billion years old and half-way through its life. At some point in the distant future, its energy will become exhausted. The Sun will subsequently swell to enormous size and turn into a red giant, quite likely engulfing the Earth and destroying any of its possibly remaining life forms.

Av. distance from Earth: 150,000,000 km
Diameter at equator: 1,392,684 km
Rotation period at equator: 24 Earth days
Rotation period at poles: 34 Earth days
Av. core temperature: 15,000,000 °C
Av. surface temperature: 5,500 °C
Mass (Earth = 1): 333,000
Age: 4.57 billion years

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