The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma,^[15][16] with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process.^[17] It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 1.39 million kilometers (864,000 miles), or 109 times that of Earth, and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth. It accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System.^[18] Roughly three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen(~73%); the rest is mostly helium (~25%), with much smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron.^[19]

Sun

Sun with sunspots and limb darkening as seen in visible light with solar filter.
False-color photo of the Sun as seen in ultraviolet light (wavelength of 30.4 nm)
Observation data
Mean distance from Earth	1 au ≈ 1.496×108 km[1] 8 min 19 s at light speed
Visual brightness (V)	−26.74[2]
Absolute magnitude	4.83[2]
Spectral classification	G2V[3]
Metallicity	Z = 0.0122[4]
Angular size	31.6–32.7 minutes of arc[5]
Adjectives	Solar
Orbital characteristics
Mean distance from Milky Way core	≈ 2.7×1017 km 27,200 light-years
Galactic period	(2.25–2.50)×108 yr
Velocity	≈ 220 km/s (orbit around the center of the Milky Way) ≈ 20 km/s (relative to average velocity of other stars in stellar neighborhood) ≈ 370 km/s[6] (relative to the cosmic microwave background)
Physical characteristics
Equatorial radius	695,700 km,[7] 696,342 km[8] 109 × Earth[9]
Equatorial circumference	4.379×106 km[9] 109 × Earth[9]
Flattening	9×10−6
Surface area	6.09×1012 km2[9] 12,000 × Earth[9]
Volume	1.41×1018 km3[9] 1,300,000 × Earth
Mass	1.9885×1030 kg[2] 333,000 × Earth[2]
Average density	1.408 g/cm3[2][9][10] 0.255 × Earth[2][9]
Center density(modeled)	162.2 g/cm3[2] 12.4 × Earth
Equatorial surface gravity	274 m/s2[2] 28 × Earth[9]
Moment of inertia factor	0.070[2] (estimate)
Escape velocity (from the surface)	617.7 km/s[9] 55 × Earth[9]
Temperature	Center (modeled): 1.57×107 K[2] Photosphere (effective): 5,778 K[2] Corona: ≈ 5×106 K
Luminosity (Lsol)	3.828×1026 W[2] ≈ 3.75×1028 lm ≈ 98 lm/W efficacy
Color (B-V)	0.63
Mean radiance (Isol)	2.009×107 W·m−2·sr−1
Age	≈ 4.6 billion years[11][12]
Rotation characteristics
Obliquity	7.25°[2] (to the ecliptic) 67.23° (to the galactic plane)
Right ascension of North pole[13]	286.13° 19 h 4 min 30 s
Declination of North pole	+63.87° 63° 52' North
Sidereal rotation period (at equator)	25.05 d[2]
(at 16° latitude)	25.38 d[2] 25 d 9 h 7 min 12 s[13]
(at poles)	34.4 d[2]
Rotation velocity (at equator)	7.189×103 km/h[9]
Photospheric composition (by mass)
Hydrogen	73.46%[14]
Helium	24.85%
Oxygen	0.77%
Carbon	0.29%
Iron	0.16%
Neon	0.12%
Nitrogen	0.09%
Silicon	0.07%
Magnesium	0.05%
Sulfur	0.04%