⭐ Star
The Sun
Our star, an ordinary one that keeps everything here alive.
- Size
- 1,390,000 km across, about the same width as the Sun
- Surface temperature
- 5,500 °C
Did you know?
- About 1.3 million Earths could fit inside it.
- It is about 4.6 billion years old, around halfway through its life.
Photographed or visited by
Parker Solar Probe
The spacecraft that flew into the Sun’s atmosphere.
The life of a starA step in a star’s life: a long, steady life
Compare the Sun with EarthSide by side, to scale, in the app
More NASA photos of the SunStraight from NASA’s image library, in the app
Explore more
All of deep space
Betelgeuse
A red supergiant in Orion that will one day explode.
Alpha Centauri
The closest star system to the Sun.
Eta Carinae
A pair of giant stars, one of them about 90 times heavier than the Sun.
Mira
A red giant star racing through space with a tail like a comet.
Zeta Ophiuchi
A runaway star, flung out when its partner exploded.
Pistol Star
One of the brightest stars known in our galaxy, hidden behind dust.