![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilAjwLccAgt4bWAgwi3v-vwsbLjPONUQrh6jp8VBFegz2iaQe87e3D5Na80nxIaIqcVt6OzBEHGhmGp4WjgPUHO-cjq9In44d2gmq5TaABV9FoI53OuWhL_QsROFCvg9KBIfC3Y8sgGzc/s400/into_the_sun_1600x1200.jpg)
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields. It has a diameter of about 1,392,000 km, about 109 times that of Earth, and its mass (about 2×1030 kilograms, 330,000 times that of Earth) accounts for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. Chemically, about three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of hydrogen, while the rest is mostly helium. The remainder (1.69%, which nonetheless equals 5,628 times the mass of Earth) consists of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon and iron, among others.