The sun is the most remarkable star in the solar system. Kids will love learning about what makes this star so important and other mind-blowing information about how it relates to other bodies in the solar system. Beyond common knowledge, like that fact that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, curious kids will be intrigued by the incredible role the this scorching orb plays in the survival of all living things on earth.
Size, Lifespan, Temperature, and Other Sun Trivia
(1) The sun is extremely hot.
This is an obvious fact, but not everyone knows temperature of this blazing star. The surface is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, or 5,500 degrees Celsius. At the core, temperatures reach 27 million degrees Fahrenheit or 15 million degrees Celsius.
(2) The sun will remain in its current state for another five billion years.
After that point, its nuclear fuel will be depleted and the sun will become a red giant. During the next phase, the outer layers will be shed and the inner core will become a white dwarf. Then it will dim and cool until it transitions into a black dwarf.
(3) The sun is more than 100 times the size of Earth.
To be more specific, the diameter of the sun is 865,370 miles. It is 109 times wider than Earth. Putting this size in perspective, more than one million planets the size of Earth could fit inside the sun. Another interesting tidbit is that the sun weighs about 333,000 times as much as Earth.
(4) The sun is almost 5 billion years old.
According to scientific experts, the sun is approximately 4.57 billion years old. To come up with this estimated age, several different approaches were put to the test. One path was to establish a mapping process based on the mass and brightness of stars. Astronomers use this data to develop an approximate age of each one. Another commonly accepted methodology is the examination of radioactive decay of other, unstable elements in the solar system. Data from this material can be used to determine how long these elements have been in the solar system, and can then be applied to the age analysis of the sun.
(5) The distance between the sun and earth is 93 million miles.
The sun's rays can feel incredibly scorching, which is astounding given its distance from earth. To put this distance in perspective, here are some interesting data points. By plane, it would take a whopping 19 years to reach the destination. And by car? Well, experts have calculated that, driving at a speed of 60 miles per hour, a person would spend two lifetimes (or 177 years) traveling to the sun.
(6) The sun has a finite lifespan.
The sun has reached about the halfway mark in terms of longevity. Fortunately, that means the star still has several billion years of life left. The current phase of this brilliant star is called yellow dwarf, which means it is just considered a medium-sized start at this point in time. After approximately 5 billion years, the sun will morph into a red giant star, a name that does not exactly align with the stage of life. At this point, the sun will have run out of hydrogen fuel necessary for nuclear fusion. In simpler terms, this means it will have begun dying. Several billion years later, the sun will transition into a white dwarf star, where only the hot core will remain.
(7) The sun is just an average-sized star.
The sun may dwarf Earth in terms of its size, however, relative to other stars it is not particularly big. With over 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, the sun is just one of many balls of hot gas, many of which are significantly larger. For example, a star called Antares is 500 times bigger than the sun. Another named Mu Cephi is a mind-blowing size that measures 1500 times that of the sun. So why does the sun shine so much brighter than the others? Well, the reason is its location in the center of the Earth's solar system. There are a total of eight planets that rotate around the sun, along with comets and asteroids.
(8) There is only one sun in the Milky Way galaxy.
The sun is one of an estimated 100 to 400 billion stars in the Milky Way. However, the sun is distinctive from all the other stars in a few significant ways. First, it is a perfectly round sphere positioned at the very center of the solar system. Second, it is a class G2 star (the second hottest in its class) which radiates enough light and heat to sustain life on Earth. Third, Earth revolves around this particular star, completing an orbit in 365 days. In fact, all the planets in the Milky Way revolve around the sun.
