How does the sun rank in terms of size and brightness in your galaxy?

Answer 1

The Sun's spectral class is G-type major sequence and it is a yellow dwarf star. This means its visual radiation is more inline with the yellow/green portion of the spectrum. Atmospheric scattering makes its color appear as yellow, but in actuality, it is white.

Answer 2

Some stars are much larger than our Sun - up to several hundred times its diameter - some are smaller than it. Most, however, are smaller; the Sun is in the top 10% with respect to mass, and probably also with respect to diameter. The large majority of stars is of the "red dwarf" type.

Some stars are much larger than our Sun - up to several hundred times its diameter - some are smaller than it. Most, however, are smaller; the Sun is in the top 10% with respect to mass, and probably also with respect to diameter. The large majority of stars is of the "red dwarf" type.

Some stars are much larger than our Sun - up to several hundred times its diameter - some are smaller than it. Most, however, are smaller; the Sun is in the top 10% with respect to mass, and probably also with respect to diameter. The large majority of stars is of the "red dwarf" type.

Some stars are much larger than our Sun - up to several hundred times its diameter - some are smaller than it. Most, however, are smaller; the Sun is in the top 10% with respect to mass, and probably also with respect to diameter. The large majority of stars is of the "red dwarf" type.

Answer 3

Our Sun is pretty average when compared to other stars; not especially big, not particularly small. The brightest stars are 150 times (or more!) the mass of our Sun, and hundreds of times larger - and millions of times brighter.

But there is a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay that describes super-sized stars:

My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night;But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends-- It gives a lovely light!

Very large stars live fast and die young. Our Sun is about 4.5 billion years old, and will probably burn as it does now for another 4 billion years or so. The red giant star Betelgeuse, at the shoulder of Orion, is less than 100 million years old - and may explode in a supernova explosion within the next few thousand years.

Answer 4

The Sun: It is a self-luminous, gaseous sphere. It has no solid surface. Its size is about 100 times that of the Earth and its mass is roughly 300,000 times that of the Earth. Its central temperature is 15 million degrees Kelvin (27 million degrees Fahrenheit), while its visible surface is a relatively cool 6,000 degrees Kelvin (10,000 degrees Fahrenheit).

The Sun is composed mainly of hydrogen and some helium. The heavier elements (carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, iron, gold, and the rest) make up only about 2% of the Sun's mass.

Some Properties of the Sun:

Radius = 435,000 miles

Mass = 330,000 Earth masses

Surface temperature = 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit

At center:

Temperature = 27 million degrees Fahrenheit

Pressure = 300 billion Earth atmospheres

Density = 160 times that of water

Current age = 4.6 billion years

The Sun's Luminosity: The Sun's brightness-- referred to as one solar luminosity -- is comparable to that of 4 trillion trillion one-hundred-watt light bulbs.

Other Stars: The Sun is often referred to as a garden variety star. This means that it's rather average. Some stars are bigger, more massive, and brighter. Others are smaller, less massive, and less bright. Some stars are single like the Sun. Others have one or several companion stars.

In composition and size, the Sun is an average star and is in the middle of its hydrogen-burning stage. It will continue to process hydrogen for another few billion years before swelling into a red giant. Although the Sun is an average-sized star, it is still huge by Earthly standards, having a diameter more than 100 times that of the Earth and a volume nearly 1.3 million times as great.

Answer 5

The apparent brightness (magnitude) of the planets will vary over time, as the different orbits take the planets closer and further from the earth. Generally speaking, the ranking goes as follows, considering the brightest that a planet can be seen from earth.

(not including the earth itself)

1. Venus

2. Jupiter

3. Mars

4. Mercury

5. Saturn

6. Uranus

7. Neptune

Answer 6

When you say "solar system", you're talking about all the millions of stones,

meteors, comets, asteroids, moons, and planets that are gravitationally bound

to the Sun, orbit it, and go wherever it goes.

That entire family of millions of objects is contained in roughly 0.2% of all the space

that's as close to us as the nearest star that's outsideof the solar system.

The Sun, and that next nearest star, are two stars out of something like perhaps

400 billion stars in our galaxy.

That's how our solar system compares to our galaxy.

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Assumes radius of solar system objects extends 0.5 light-year from the sun.

Assumes distance to nearest star = 4 light years.

Ratio of radii = 0.5/4 = 0.125

Ratio of volumes = (0.125)3 = 0.00195 < 0.2%

Answer 7

Some stars are much larger than our Sun - up to several hundred times its diameter - some are smaller than it. Most, however, are smaller; the Sun is in the top 10% with respect to mass, and probably also with respect to diameter. The large majority of stars is of the "red dwarf" type.

Answer 8

The Sun is an average-sized star in terms of size, but it is brighter than most stars in our galaxy due to its proximity to Earth. There are much larger and brighter stars in our galaxy, but the Sun's brightness is significant to us because it provides the energy that sustains life on Earth.

Answer 9

Actually, compared to other stars the sun is just a medium sized star. For example, if you compare our sun to Beetlejuice(if I spelled it right), the sun would be just smaller than it.