Page 307 - (DK) I Can’t Believe It! 2

TRUE OR FALSE? 305
The sun is yellow The sun looks yellow from Earth or space, but it
looks more yellow on Earth due to the atmosphere.
If you viewed the sun from a mountaintop, the
yellow intensity would reduce because there is
less air. We are so familiar with depictions of the
yellow sun that astronomers artificially enhance
images to make them more yellow.

FAST FACTS

THE SUN CONTAINS

Spacecraft SOHO 330,000
(Solar and Heliospheric TIMES MORE
Observatory)
photographs the sun MATERIAL
and studies the surface. THAN EARTH
White areas,
called faculae, are
the hottest regions Everything in our solar system revolves around
of the sun. this massive star. Up until the 16th century,
however, it was believed that Earth was at the
heart of everything, and that the sun and planets
circled around it.

BIRTH OF
THE SUN

Darker 10 BILLION SUN TIMELINE
sunspots are YEARS
cooler areas Red giant
stage
of the sun. 4.6 BILLION
YEARS
The sun now
THERE WILL BE ANOTHER
The circumference FIVE BILLION
of the sun is YEARS OF SUNSHINE
2.7 million miles
(4.4 million km). The sun is currently middle-aged because
its rays have already been shining for at least
4.6 billion years. Toward the end of its life,
during the red giant stage, the sun will expand
to about 100 times its size, cool, and turn red.
The sun will start to die as material is shed from
The sun is three-quarters its outer layers. What remains of the dying star
hydrogen and almost all will pack together to make a star about the same
the rest is helium, held size as Earth, called a white dwarf. This will fade
and cool to become a cold, dark cinder in space.
together by gravity.

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