Our Amazing Sun Trivia Quiz

Answer: One million

The sun has a surface area more than 12,000 times that of Earth, and its mass is over 330,000 times that of our planet. The sheer size of our sun is probably distorted by the incredible distance it is from us: we are on average about 150 million km (or 93 million miles) from the sun at any given time. Even Mercury, its closest neighbour, is over 50 million km (31 million miles) away.

Answer: True

The diameter of our sun varies by only about 10km (6 miles) between its poles and equator. In relative terms this is a tiny variation, given that the sun has an average diameter of nearly 1.4 million km (0.86 million miles)! This makes our sun one of the closest objects to a perfect sphere ever observed in nature.

Answer: Sun spots

These spots are relatively cooler than the rest of the sun, but still incredibly hot (generally over 2,500 degrees Celsius). In contrast, the surface of the sun varies in temperature but is usually about 5,500 degrees.

Answer: Magnetic

The formation of flux ropes, driven by magnetic energy, can last for a number of weeks. The ejection of the rope into the sun's outer atmosphere then leads to a massive energy release known as a coronal mass ejection.

Answer: Solar flare

A solar flare releases an incredible amount of energy seen as light: to put it in context, over 25,000 times the amount of energy that was released when the Shoemaker-Levy comet collided with Jupiter. These events are very common on the sun's surface, and can happen multiple times in a single (Earth) day.

Answer: Plasma

Plasma is one of the four states of matter (along with solid, liquid and gas). Plasma is created in the sun due to a combination of gases and strong magnetic fields. This picture shows the result of a phenomenon known as a 'solar wind', which is made up of plasma and escapes the sun's surface due to the high amount of energy within.

Answer: Venus

The transit of Venus is one of the rarest repeated events in astronomic phenomena, only happening every 110 years or so, but interestingly happening twice in eight years when it does occur. The first scientific prediction of the transit is credited to Johannes Kepler, who predicted the 1631 event. The next event is due to occur in December 2117.

Answer: True

The sun appears yellow to us due to the filtering of light from Earth's atmosphere. Scientists generally believe our sun to be white. Our sun is thought to be in the middle of its life at about 4.5billion years. In another 5 billion years it is predicted to end its life, becoming a white dwarf about the same size of Earth along the way.

Answer: Wavelength

The sun emits a wide range of colours, which can be observed by changing the wavelength of instruments (generally telescopes). This provides us with insights into various parts of the sun, including phenomena across its surface and within its core. This process also provides us with some breathtaking images.

Answer: Light from the sun takes about 8 hours to reach Earth

Despite its large distance from the earth, the speed of light (300,000 km per second) enables the sun's light to reach Earth in just over 8 minutes. Likewise, the incredible amounts of heat and light generated by the sun mean it is a good thing we are so far away: if we were even slightly closer they would be more than we could handle.