2019-02-06 Wed

The third and final coin from Royal Australian Mint’s “Earth and Beyond” series has been released. All coins in the series are dome-shaped; they are dedicated to celestial bodies and our planet. The first two coins featured Earth and the Moon respectively, while the third one features the Sun.

Sun is a mighty spherical star, located at the centre of our solar system and is the main source of energy for every living being on earth. It’s made of hot plasma and generates a magnetic field through a dynamo process. Its diameter is 109 times bigger than that of Earth while its mass is 330,000 times that of Earth. 73% of the Sun is made of Hydrogen, 25% is made of helium while the rest is made of oxygen, carbon, neon and iron. The G-type main-sequence star or yellow dwarf was formed almost 4.6 billion years ago from matter that was formed due to an explosion of a huge molecular cloud. Our planets are also a part of this matter. The central mass initiated nuclear fusion and turned into a star as it became extremely hot and dense. It's believed that most stars are formed in this way.

The reverse side of the coin is convex while the obverse is concave. For the first time, the Royal Australian mint has applied colour on the convex side of a coin. The obverse side depicts an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, designed by Ian Rank-Broadley. Planets from our solar system are featured around the central effigy.

The coin comes in a presentation case with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity. Made of 1 ounce of fine silver, the coin has a mintage limit of 5,000 pieces and can be purchased for $125.00 AUD.

Image Courtesy: The Royal Australian Mint