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The Sun is 1.4 million kilometers (4.643 light-seconds) wide, about 109 times wider than Earth, or four times the Lunar distance, and contains 99.86% of all Solar System mass. The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star that makes up about 99.86% of the mass of the Solar System. [26]
Although the Sun is a star, its photosphere has a low enough temperature of 6,000 K (5,730 °C; 10,340 °F), and therefore molecules can form. Water has been found on the Sun, and there is evidence of H 2 in white dwarf stellar atmospheres. [2] [4] Cooler stars include absorption band spectra that are characteristic of molecules.
Sagan and Mullen suggested during their descriptions of the paradox that it might be solved by high concentrations of ammonia gas, NH 3. [4] However, it has since been shown that while ammonia is an effective greenhouse gas, it is easily destroyed photochemically in the atmosphere and converted to nitrogen (N 2) and hydrogen (H 2) gases. [9]
The principal component of the Solar System is the Sun, a G-type main-sequence star that contains 99.86% of the system's known mass and dominates it gravitationally. [37] The Sun's four largest orbiting bodies, the giant planets, account for 99% of the remaining mass, with Jupiter and Saturn together comprising more than 90%.
The core of the Sun is considered to extend from the center to about 0.2 of the solar radius (139,000 km; 86,000 mi). [1] It is the hottest part of the Sun and of the Solar System . It has a density of 150,000 kg/m 3 (150 g/cm 3 ) at the center, and a temperature of 15 million kelvins (15 million degrees Celsius; 27 million degrees Fahrenheit).
In astronomy or planetary science, the frost line, also known as the snow line or ice line, is the minimum distance from the central protostar of a solar nebula where the temperature is low enough for volatile compounds such as water, ammonia, methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide to condense into solid grains, which will allow their accretion into planetesimals.
The interior contains denser materials such that the distribution is roughly 71% hydrogen, 24% helium and 5% other elements by mass. The atmosphere contains trace amounts of methane, water vapor, ammonia, and silicon-based compounds. There are also traces of carbon, ethane, hydrogen sulfide, neon, oxygen, phosphine, and sulfur.
Although water is thought to reside deep in the atmosphere, its directly-measured concentration is very low. The nitrogen, sulfur, and noble gas abundances in Jupiter's atmosphere exceed solar values by a factor of about three. [1] The atmosphere of Jupiter lacks a clear lower boundary and gradually transitions into the liquid interior of the ...