Did you know that the sun is huge? It’s so big that 1.3 million Earths could fit inside of it!
The sun is also really, really old. Scientists believe that it formed about 4.6 billion years ago.
Here are ten fun facts about the sun:
1. The sun is a star. There are lots of stars in space, but the sun is special because it’s the closest star to Earth.
2. The sun rotates. It takes around 25 days for the sun to complete one rotation.
3. The temperature on the sun can be up to 15 million degrees Fahrenheit! That’s hot enough to melt most metals.
4. The sun has different layers, including the core, radiation zone, convection zone, and photosphere (which is what we see when we look at the sun).
5. Sunspots are dark spots on the surface of the sun caused by intense magnetic activity. They usually come in pairs and can be as large as 50,000 miles across!
6. Solar flares are sudden bursts of energy from the sun that can last for minutes or hours. They often happen near sunspots and can cause radio interference here on Earth and the entire solar system.
7. The solar wind is a stream of charged particles (protons and electrons) flowing from the Sun out into space at speeds of around 1 million miles per hour! This wind helps create auroras (northern/southern lights).
8. The Sun is about 93 million miles away from Earth.
9. Every 11 years or so, there is a peak in solar activity called “the solar maximum.” During this time, there are more flareups and auroras occur more frequently.
10. The sun is made up of gas and dust. Around 98% of the sun is made up of hydrogen and helium.
