Sun

Astronomical Facts

Distance from Earth: 150,000,000 kilometer
Diameter: 1,400,000 kilometers (a little more than 100 times the diameter of the Earth)
Average temperature of the photosphere: 5,800 degrees Kelvin

The Sun is the center of the solar system. All life revolves around it within this sphere. In the same way, the ego is the center of personal identity and gives integration and continuity to individual experience. In this sense, it might be said that the Sun shows character. This is the fixed pillar at the center of the person around which all else circulates or revolves.

Astrological Meaning

The sign placement of the Sun shows the center of the individual's basic character. The sign of the Sun is the mostprimary indicator of the forms of experience you are attracted to. Further, this most important placement shows how and why you are attracted to these experiences.

The house placement of the Sun sign shows the primary area of expression for the individual in life. There is a psychological, emotional, and physical significance to the house placement of the Sun. Aspects to the Sun show ways that the core of the personality are linked to other component elements in theindividual's life. Aspects to the Sun have a deep and overriding significance in the life of the individual and are generally more important, more prominent than other aspects in the chart.

Historical Myth & Legend

Helios was the Greek god of the Sun. Helios drove a chariot pulled by four horses across the sky. Another god of a solar nature is Apollo, the god of the Sun, light, and purity. Apollo was handsome, honest, strong, intelligent, played the lyre and wrote poetry.

Apollo was generally magnanimous, good, and reasonable, but he did occasionally display characteristics that were not always virtuous and pure, as when he and Artemis killed the children f Niobe, queen of Thebes, when she boasted that she was superior to the mother of Apollo and Artemis, Leto. Artemis was a virgin huntress, strong and independent. The symbol given to the right is recognized by some astrologers as being he symbol of the minor asteriod Apollo.

Astrologically, the Sun brings qualities into clear and present manifestation, the Sun strivesto manifest its potential clearly and directly, and Apollo is an appropriate symbolic representation of this because he was able to self-actualize himself to an extraordinary degree in a balanced manner. However, pride can destroy the Sun's potential for achieving excellence, and pride was also Apollo's weakness.