SOLAR SYSTEM

Detailed explanation-1: -The fact that our Sun and the stars all have similar compositions and are made up of mostly hydrogen and helium was first shown in a brilliant thesis in 1925 by Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, the first woman to get a PhD in astronomy in the United States (Figure 15.3).

Detailed explanation-2: -The two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, have nearly the same chemical makeup as the Sun; they are composed primarily of the two elements hydrogen and helium, with 75% of their mass being hydrogen and 25% helium.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Short Answer: Our Sun is an average sized star: there are smaller stars and larger stars, even up to 100 times larger. Many other solar systems have multiple suns, while ours just has one. Our Sun is 864, 000 miles in diameter and 10, 000 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface.

Detailed explanation-4: -It turns out that the Sun contains the same elements as Earth but not in the same proportions. About 73% of the Sun’s mass is hydrogen, and another 25% is helium. All the other chemical elements (including those we know and love in our own bodies, such as carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen) make up only 2% of our star.

Detailed explanation-5: -Like other stars, the Sun is a dense ball of gas that creates energy through nuclear fusion reactions in the core, creating helium atoms from hydrogen atoms.