Facts About the Sun for Kids

The sun is the closest star to earth. It's the source of all the heat and light that we get on earth. Life wouldn't exist without it. It's also the centre of our solar system and by far its largest object. The sun was born about 4.6 billion ago. It is the source of energy of our planet earth. The Sun is composed of hydrogen and helium gases. It is believed that the sun will become a white dwarf after 5 billion years and burn up all the hydrogen.                        

What is Sun?

Sun is the yellow dwarf star which consists of 98% of the total mass of the entire solar system. The Sun is the source of light and energy to our planet earth. The sun is placed in the centre of our solar system and is a dwarf star that gives light. Sun also releases a stream of particles that reaches the earth as the solar wind.

The sun controls our seasons. It controls how and when food grows. It even controls when we are asleep and awake. It take-up 98% of the matter in the solar system because of its size and it has a strong gravitational pull. It keeps earth, the star, the moons and the other planets in line. Without gravity, the sun, and the earth would go spinning off into space.

The Sun

Inside The Sun

Structure of the Sun

The sun is at the centre of the solar system. It nearly perfects a sphere of hot plasma; it is divided into 2 parts: the outer layer and the inner layer.

Outer Layer

1) Photosphere - The photosphere is the sun that we can see from earth. Though it is called the surface of the sun, it is the first layer of the surface of the sun, it is the first layer of the solar atmosphere and is made of plasma.

2) Chromosphere - Chromosphere is a reddish and glowing layer of gas above a star's photosphere; it is a transition between corona and photosphere.

3) Transition Region - The transition region is a very narrow layer between the chromosphere and the corona where the temperature rises abruptly from about 8000 to abruptly 5,00,000.

4) Corona - The outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere where strong magnetic fields bind plasma and prevent turbulent solar winds from escaping. The Alfven point is when solar winds exceed the critical speed and can break free of the corona and the sun's magnetic field.

Inner Layer

1) Core: The core is at the centre. It is the hottest region where the nuclear fusion reaction that powers the sun occurs.

2) Radiative Zone: The inner layer is the Core Radiative Zone. The outer layer is the photosphere chromosphere, the transition region and the corona.

3) Convection Zone: This is the outermost layer of the solar interior. It extends from a depth of about 200,000 km right up to the visible surface.

Fun Facts About the Sun for Kids

The Sun is heating up and can kill life on earth. It becomes 10% more luminous every billion years. In fact, within just a billion years the heat from the sun will be so intense that liquid water won’t exist on the surface.

Solar System

Astronomers think that the sun formed from the solar nebula about 4.59 billion years ago.

The sun is in the main sequence stage right now, slowly using up hydrogen fuel.

After sunset. The earth, Moon, does not make its light. It shines because of the light it reflects from the sun.

This is an ordinary star.  It’s just one of the billions of stars in the Milky way alone.

Summary

The sun is the star in the solar system which is at the centre. It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma with an internal convection motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on earth.

There are three main parts to the Sun interior: The core, The radiative zone, and the constructive zone. The core is at the centre. It is the hottest region, where the nuclear fusion reactions that power the Sun occur. Moving outward next comes the radiative zone.