Does the Sun also rotate like Earth?

No it does not.

The Sun does rotate, but it does not rotate like the Earth.

That's because, despite its fluid centre and atmosphere, the Earth rotates (more or less) like a rigid body, all of it rotating at (again: more or less) the same speed. 1 day is 24 hours, no matter where on (or in) the Earth you are.

The sun, however, is manifestly not a rigid body. It is a gigantic ball of superheated plasma, which means that different parts of the sun rotate at different rates.


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The equator of the sun completes a full rotation once every 24.5 days, whilst the poles take almost 38 days to complete a rotation.

It can be a little bit difficult to spot with the naked eye, but you can just about appreciate the difference in speeds of the sunspots in this video:

Modern helioseismology has also provided significant evidence that the rate of rotation inside sun also varies hugely — so the surface can rotate up to 40% faster than the material halfway between the core and the surface!

Hence, the sun does rotate, but nothing like the Earth!


This information was taken from Quora. Click here to view the original post.

Were you surprised to learn how the Sun rotates?

#Science #Quora

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What are your thoughts on this subject?
25 Comments
Susan Lake-Harris
I already knew this from astronomy studies years ago - but it was interesting to be reminded!
1
Sep 10, 2021 7:54PM
Linda Spreng
I'll ditto Cheryl McMeekin.
0
May 22, 2020 12:32PM
Lisette Morin
Très intéressant !
2
Apr 1, 2020 5:59PM
Cheryl McMeekin
Interesting info, I didn't realize that the sun rotates differently.
3
Mar 19, 2020 8:01PM
teraagee
Very interesting
2
Feb 25, 2020 11:03PM
Paulette Arnold
Very interesting.😃
1
Oct 8, 2019 11:33PM
Ian Gavin
Fascinating. I had no idea
2
Sep 9, 2019 2:22AM
hector tubens
Good Q and A. Learn something new everyday.
1
Jul 7, 2019 8:20PM
Lilian Ling
Never considered this fact before now.... interesting!
2
May 6, 2019 5:54PM
Humberto Carrasco
VERY INTERESTING ISSUE
1
Apr 18, 2019 11:15AM
Glenis Nichols
Not surprised ,but interesting to know.
0
Mar 22, 2019 7:36PM
Christine Mountain
Very interesting.
0
Mar 9, 2019 5:11AM
Ian Sayer
Very interesting. 😀
0
Mar 3, 2019 5:27PM
ninakamwene
I assumed the sun does NOT rotate. Now I am informed. Thank you.
1
Feb 26, 2019 10:30PM
Don Racette
jmsblanton Now you do!
0
Nov 4, 2018 10:10PM

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