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This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Sun is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

Sun is part of the Solar System series, a featured topic. This is identified as among the best series of articles produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on March 20, 2006, and on March 20, 2025.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
February 26, 2006	Featured article candidate	Promoted
October 15, 2006	Featured topic candidate	Promoted
July 30, 2009	Featured article review	Kept
June 13, 2021	Featured topic removal candidate	Demoted
June 20, 2022	Featured topic candidate	Promoted
November 2, 2024	Featured article review	Kept
Current status: Featured article

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Section sizes

Section size for Sun (42 sections)
Section name	Byte count		Prose size (words)
Section name	Header	Total	Header	Total
(Top)	18,444	18,444	417	417
Etymology	5,491	5,491	276	276
General characteristics	4,889	19,164	190	999
Shape	4,574	4,574	210	210
Rotation	3,841	3,841	188	188
Composition	5,860	5,860	411	411
Structure	186	32,069	2	1,932
Core	8,732	8,732	510	510
Radiative zone	1,555	1,555	156	156
Tachocline	1,169	1,169	76	76
Convective zone	2,252	2,252	254	254
Atmosphere	1,854	14,044	73	763
Photosphere	3,541	3,541	264	264
Chromosphere	2,809	2,809	212	212
Corona	5,840	5,840	214	214
Heliosphere	4,131	4,131	171	171
Light, radiation, and observation	4,971	16,558	199	949
Visible light and observation	2,460	7,793	164	410
Exposure to the eye	5,333	5,333	246	246
Other radiation	3,794	3,794	340	340
Magnetic activity	2,262	13,116	182	940
Sunspots	4,204	4,204	349	349
Solar activity	4,169	4,169	214	214
Coronal heating	2,481	2,481	195	195
Life phases	766	19,387	54	1,389
Formation	4,329	4,329	226	226
Main sequence	4,396	4,396	343	343
After core hydrogen exhaustion	9,896	9,896	766	766
Gravitational domain and influence	8,714	8,714	470	470
Overall location	43	8,641	0	508
Celestial neighbourhood	81	81	0	0
Galactic motion	8,517	8,517	508	508
Observational history	29	26,906	0	1,115
Early understanding	4,355	4,355	298	298
Development of scientific understanding	13,517	13,517	454	454
Solar space missions	9,005	9,005	363	363
Religious aspects	9,634	9,634	557	557
See also	618	618	0	0
Notes	555	555	0	0
References	30	30	0	0
Further reading	1,165	1,165	0	0
External links	1,568	1,568	0	0
Total	182,060	182,060	9,552	9,552

Inside the sun image

Latest comment: 5 months ago2 comments2 people in discussion

I can’t see the image fully ~2026-93758-4 (talk) 15:52, 11 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Do you mean the "Structure" image? Is it cut off somehow? —Antonissimo (talk) 23:49, 12 February 2026 (UTC)Reply

Semi-protected edit request on 21 July 2026

Latest comment: 12 days ago2 comments2 people in discussion

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Under the Sun#Formation heading there is the following text. This edit should be made to add a link to a relevant article:

The stars HD 162826 and HD 186302 share similarities with the Sun and are hypothesised to be solar siblings, formed in the same molecular cloud as the Sun. Ronjohnbonpon (talk) 19:11, 21 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thanks. However I have chosen a different path: I deleted this content. The specific candidates have been disputed. I think for an article at this level we should focus on more settled science about the Sun. We should update solar siblings as new studies have been published but no review that list confirmed sibling, more like questions if it is even possible to identify them. Johnjbarton (talk) 22:09, 21 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

Chemical composition

Latest comment: 1 day ago2 comments2 people in discussion

I find it very hard to believe that the sun at present contains more hydrogen and less helium than at the time it was formed. After all it spent a few billion years converting hydrogen into helium See Sun#Composition ~2026-42779-07 (talk) 21:30, 1 August 2026 (UTC)Reply

The article does not give the current composition of the Sun as far as I can tell. Numbers in the first paragraph for H and He are for the photosphere, and near the end the article claims the photosphere composition is near the primordial composition. So that is what leads to your observation.

The end of the first paragraph seems to give composition of the interior but not for H / He. The middle of the section claims changes in composition due to fusion. All around a mess. Johnjbarton (talk) 22:50, 1 August 2026 (UTC)Reply