• Question: How big is the sun?

    Asked by to Mike on 18 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Mike Lee

      Mike Lee answered on 18 Mar 2014:

      Hey Annam,

      The sun is 1,400,000 kilometres across. This is quite large… but the sun is very far away. The moon on the other hand is only 3500 kilometres across which is much smaller, but the moon is much closer than the sun.

      The difference is size is the same as the difference between taking one step, and walking from london to Manchester.

      By amazing good luck, both the moon and the sun look about the same size in the sky. This means that that we get to see solar eclipses – where the moon passes in front of the sun and completely blocks it out. This lasts only a few minutes.

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