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Sun vs. Moon - Comparison of sizes
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Sun vs Moon - Comparison

Sun
Moon
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Sun

Sun

Diameter (km)1392684
Equator (km)4370005
Temperature5778000

<p>The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. </p>It is a sphere of plasma, with inner convective movement that generates a magnetic field by means of a dynamo process. It is by far the main source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 1.39 million kilometers (864,000 miles), or 109 times that of Earth, and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth. It accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Roughly three quarters of the Sun's mass is composed of hydrogen (~73%); the remainder is mostly helium (~25%), with much smaller amounts of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron.The Sun is a G-type main-sequence celebrity (G2V) based on its spectral class. As such, it's informally rather than completely accurately referred to as a yellow dwarf (its light is closer to white than yellow). It formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud. Whereas the remainder flattened into an orbiting disk that became the Solar System, most of this matter gathered in the center. The central mass became dense and so hot that it initiated nuclear fusion. It is believed that almost all stars form by this process.



The Sun fuses about 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second, converting 4 million tons of matter into energy every second. This energy, which may take 170,000 and between 10,000 years to escape from its core, is the origin of the Sun's light and heat. When hydrogen fusion in its core has diminished to the point where the Sun is no more in hydrostatic equilibrium, its core will undergo a marked increase in density and temperature while its outer layers expand, eventually transforming the Sun into a red giant. It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the orbits of Venus and Mercury, and render Earth uninhabitable -- but not for about five billion years. After this, it will shed its outer layers and become a dense type of cooling star called a white dwarf, and no longer produce energy by fusion, but still glow and give off heat from its previous fusion. The Sun on Earth's effect has been recognized since ancient times, and some cultures as a deity have seen the Sun. Its orbit around the Sun and the synodic rotation of Earth will be the basis of solar calendars, among which is the calendar in use today.

Source: Wikipedia
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Moon

Moon

Diameter (km)3476
Distance to sun (km)363105,021
Equator (km)10921
Temperature-160

The Moon is an astronomical body orbiting Earth as its only natural satellite. It is the fifth-largest satellite in the Solar System, and by far the largest among planetary satellites relative to the size of the planet that it orbits (its primary). The Moon is, after Jupiter's satellite Io, the second-densest satellite in the Solar System among those whose densities are known. The Moon is thought to have formed about 4.51 billion years ago, not long after Earth. The most widely accepted explanation is that the Moon formed from the debris left over after a giant impact between Earth and a hypothetical Mars-sized body called Theia. New research of Moon rocks, although not rejecting the Theia hypothesis, suggests that the Moon may be older than previously thought.The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth, and thus always shows the same side to Earth, the near side. Because of libration, slightly more than half (about 59%) of the total lunar surface can be viewed from Earth. The near side is marked by dark volcanic maria that fill the spaces between the bright ancient crustal highlands and the prominent impact craters. After the Sun, the Moon is the second-brightest celestial object regularly visible in Earth's sky. Its surface is actually dark, although compared to the night sky it appears very bright, with a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt. Its gravitational influence produces the ocean tides, body tides, and the slight lengthening of the day. The Moon's average orbital distance is 384,402 km (238,856 mi), or 1.



28 light-seconds. This is about thirty times the diameter of Earth. The Moon's apparent size in the sky is almost the same as that of the Sun, since the star is about 400 times the lunar distance and diameter. Therefore, the Moon covers the Sun nearly precisely during a total solar eclipse. This matching of apparent visual size will not continue in the far future because the Moon's distance from Earth is gradually increasing. The Moon was first reached by a human-made object in September 1959, when the Soviet Union's Luna 2, an unmanned spacecraft, was intentionally crashed onto the lunar surface. This accomplishment was followed by the first successful soft landing on the Moon by Luna 9 in 1966. The United States' NASA Apollo program achieved the only manned lunar missions to date, beginning with the first manned orbital mission by Apollo 8 in 1968, and six manned landings between 1969 and 1972, with the first being Apollo 11 in July 1969. These missions returned lunar rocks which have been used to develop a geological understanding of the Moon's origin, internal structure, and the Moon's later history. Since the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, the Moon has been visited only by unmanned spacecraft. Both the Moon's natural prominence in the earthly sky and its regular cycle of phases as seen from Earth have provided cultural references and influences for human societies and cultures since time immemorial. Such cultural influences can be found in language, lunar calendar systems, art, and mythology.

Source: Wikipedia

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