• Question: Does the sun itself spin ? If so how fast?

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      Asked by PartyPoison123 to Anne, Florence, Mark, Neil, Sinead on 16 Nov 2015.
      • Photo: Sinead Balgobin

        Sinead Balgobin answered on 16 Nov 2015:

        The sun spins, but since it is a gas, it doesn’t spin like the earth (like a solid). The Sun rotates once every 27 days at its equator, but only once every 31 days at its poles. (…yes, I used google to find the exact numbers)

      • Photo: Florence McCarthy

        Florence McCarthy answered on 16 Nov 2015:

        I think we need a physicist on board! I would imagine that the inner sun does spin but that the outer is like a gas cloud and so we don’t really see the surface as such because it is such a violent atmosphere.

      • Photo: Mark Collins

        Mark Collins answered on 16 Nov 2015:

        It spins but not in a conventional motion like the earth, it is hard to observe the sun but we can monitor (or watch on YouTube) how Jupiter rotates and this is also a giant mass of gas like our Sun (only much smaller) and if you watch how it spins this will be your best indicator on how the sun spins! Look closely and you will that it is not a uniform spinning motion but multiple directions. This is how our sun spins.

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