The Vital Stats

Mass - 2 x 10³⁰ kg or ~3x10⁵ Earth masses
Radius - 7 x 10⁵ km or 109x bigger than Earth
Mean Density - 1410 kg/m³
Surface Temp - 5800K
Central Temp - 16x10⁶ K
Rotation - 25 days at the equator

Atmosphere

Photosphere -

• visible layer
• granules - convection cells, blotchy appearance

Chromosphere -

• above the photosphere,
• less dense,
• spicules - jets of gas

Corona -

• outermost region,
• extends several million km

Sunspots

• Cooler, so they appear darker
• ~11 yr. cycle
• created by Sun’s magnetic field

Other features - in Savage Sun video

• plages
• filaments
• prominences
• coronal holes
• solar flares
• coronal mass ejections

Energy produced by nuclear fusion

The Solar Wind