The
Sun (in
Greek:
Helios, in
Latin:
Sol) is the
star at the center of the
Solar System and is by far the most important source of
energy for life on
Earth. It is a nearly perfect spherical ball of hot
plasma, with internal
convective motion that generates a
magnetic field via a
dynamo process. Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth, and it has a
mass about 330,000 times that of Earth, accounting for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System. About three quarters of the Sun's mass consists of
hydrogen; the rest is mostly
helium, with much smaller quantities of heavier elements, including
oxygen,
carbon,
neon and
iron.
