What are the four major parts of the sun?
General Characteristics of the Sun The sun is actually a star of about medium size; it appears larger than the other stars because of its relative nearness to the earth. The earth’s distance from the sun varies from 91,377,000 mi (147,053,000 km) at perihelion to 94,537,000 mi (152,138,000 km) at aphelion (see apsis). The mean distance is c.92,960,000 mi (149,591,000 km); this is taken as the astronomical unit (AU) of distance used for measuring distances within the solar system. The sun is approximately 865,400 mi (1,392,000 km) in diameter, and its volume is about 1,300,000 times that of the earth. Its mass is almost 700 times the total mass of all the bodies in the solar system and 332,000 times that of the earth. The sun’s surface gravity is almost 28 times that of the earth; i.e., a body on the surface of the sun would weigh about 28 times its weight on earth. The density of the material composing the sun is about one fourth that of the earth; compared with water, the sun’s averag
