Plate I
The Sun
A G2V yellow dwarf that has been fusing hydrogen into helium for around 4.6 billion years. Its light takes just eight minutes to reach Earth, and its solar wind — a steady stream of charged particles — marks out the real edge of the system, far beyond Neptune's orbit.
| Diameter | 1,392,700 km |
| Surface temperature | ≈ 5,500 °C |
| Spectral type | G2V |
| Estimated age | 4.6 billion years |