The Sun

Our Planet the Earth revolves around a medium sized star which we call the Sun. All of the planets in our solar system revolve around it, and it is the most impotent celestial body as it gives us life. Nothing in our solar system can survive without it.

Astronomers call the Sun “Sol” and it happens to be the only star that can be seen up close. Make sure though that you never try and look directly at the Sun, especially with a telescope. The light and energy that it produces would severely damage your eyes. There are special filters available for telescopes that you can use to view the Sun safely, but always view with an adult with you.

One of the main reasons the Sun is the “big cheese” of our solar system is it’s sheer size. It is the biggest thing around and takes up about 98% of all the mass in our solar system. It is hard to imagine, but about 1,000,000 Earths could fit inside of it.

The Sun works by using nuclear reactions to produce light and heat. It does this by turning Hydrogen into Helium at it’s core. What is very interesting, and something that scientists aren’t sure about, is that the surface of the Sun is only about 6000 degrees Celsius, and as you go out toward the surface, the temperature increases to a nice toasty 2,000,000 degrees Celsius at the point of the corona farthest away from the surface. That’s enough to overcook some marshmallows!

The Sun is made up of several different parts; the core, which is the hottest part, then the radiative zone and finally the convection zone. All of these make up the solar interior. The outer atmospheric layers are made up of the photosphere, the chromosphere, a transition region and the corona.

There is enough material for the sun to burn for about another 5 billion years. One other interesting thing is that the Sun actually rotates just like the Earth, however, different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds, as the Sun is basically gas. Find out more about our solar system and astronomy in general

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