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By the Numbers
If the total mass of the solar system was to be combined, the sun would account for 99.8% of it. The circumference of the sun is more than 100 times that of earth, and scientists have measured it at 2,715,395 miles. The radius -- the distance from the center of the sun to the outside -- is 432,168 miles. Only a quarter as dense as the earth, the mass of the sun is probably the most impressive and difficult to imagine number. Were the sun to be weighed in pounds, it would weigh approximately 4,385,214,857,119,400,000,000,000,000,000 lb.
Composition
The sun is made up of gases, 70 percent of which is hydrogen and 28 percent helium, with the remaining percentage being made up of minor metals. The sun produces heat and light by the process of nuclear fusion and is slowly turning the hydrogen into helium and giving off the power needed to fuel life on earth. The processes that go on within the sun do not occur evenly across the surface; this results in temperature changes and cool regions. Sunspots are dark patches on the surface of the sun that are cooler than the surrounding areas, and these spots can be as large as 31,000 miles in diameter.
These gases and the process within the sun give off a corona, which extends for millions of miles into space and makes up the outer layer of the sun.
Effects of Distance
When in the sky together, such as during events like an eclipse, the sun and the moon seem to be the same size. This is a trick of perspective and distance. The moon has a radius of only 1,079 miles -- much smaller than the sun's 432,168 miles. The appearance of a similar size is due to the distance from the earth. The moon is a mere stone's throw away, at only 234,878 miles away. The sun, on the other hand, is nearly 93 million miles away -- give or take a few hundred thousand miles.
Putting It in Perspective
Numbers tend not to mean much if there's no way to put them into perspective, especially when those numbers are as large as those referring to the size of the sun and its distance from earth. If we could drive to the sun at a rate of 65 miles an hour, it would take 1,430,769 hours to get there -- that's 59,615 days. Once there, it would take 41,775 hours to drive the circumference of the sun. In perspective, driving the same trip around the circumference of the Earth would take only 382 hours (or 15 days), and the same lap around the moon would take 104 hours, or only about four days.