Facts about the Sun You may think you know everything about the sun just because you see it

every day, but there are a lot of amazing facts about the sun that you may not know very well - just like that it already is a middle-aged star and how will continue to live on perhaps for more than four billion years, or that like the earth, the sun also rotates - not every 24 hours, but every 27 days.

One of the best known facts about the sun is that it is hot. But just exactly how hot it is, not everyone always knows or remembers. The sun’s surface has a temperature of about 5,540°C, while its core is about 15 million °C high. Now remember that water reaches its boiling point at only a hundred degrees Celsius.

Among the details about the sun that make it more comprehensible for people is the comparison between its dimensions and that of the earth’s. In terms of size, it can be said that a million earths could actually fit inside

the sun. It is also more than 300,000 times heavier than the earth. There are billions of stars in the universe, and the sun is only one of them. In

comparison to other stars, our sun is actually a dwarf, for it is 400 times smaller compared to supergiant stars. Stars like the sun mostly give off light and heat, and because it has a tremendous amount of energy, it shines so bright in spite of being about 150 million kilometers away.

Sometimes, people fail to realize that without the sun, there would be no life on earth. The heat or solar energy that comes out from the sun prevents the earth from becoming a cold and lifeless planet.

People have always wondered what the sun was made of. At first, it was thought out to be a solid rock, and then later, a liquid ball of fire. To be more precise about it, the sun is made of hydrogen, helium and other low number gases. Hydrogen makes up most of the sun – all 92% of it.

Of confusion during the olden times was also the location of the sun. Others thought that the earth was at the center of the system, hence, the geocentric view. Later however, Copernicus proposed what is now more widely recognized as the heliocentric model – that is, the sun, being in the center of the solar system.

An interesting fact about the sun is that it does not rise or set, even if we usually say that it does. It only seems to rise and set because the earth is moving on a tilted axis.

The moon which shines intensely on dark nights, do not really have a light of its own. Its light comes from the brightness of the sun, which the moon merely reflects. Stars like the sun are the only ones in the universe which emit a light of its own, all the rest merely reflect their light.

At this very moment, astronomers continue to observe and study the sun, and more than just determining its size and its temperature, we now have information on the sun’s layers, activities and even help predict space weather based on the sun’s activity.

As people continue to progress and develop more sophisticated instruments and methods used to study heavenly bodies like the sun, there will always be more interesting facts about the sun that will likely be discovered.

Knowing the Facts about the Sun's Energy Among the most amusing facts about the sun is the type of energy it provides

for the earth and its inhabitants – solar energy. From solar powered calculators to solar powered cell phones and cars, the sun’s energy when put to efficient use can certainly bring people a long way.

The sun is almost a hundred million miles away from earth, yet it possesses tremendous heat that the energy that comes from it could still be used on earth. There are many advantages to using solar energy, and one of them is that it is a renewable form of energy. It does not just run out, for as long as the sun is shining, there will be solar energy.

One piece of information about the sun’s energy that is worth remembering include the importance of solar panels, as they are needed to convert the sun’s energy into something that people can use, like electricity or heat, or even chemical and mechanical energy. The system often works this way: panels absorb the sun’s energy, and store it in a battery so that it can be used as needed, even when the weather is cloudy or rainy.

Another known fact about the sun’s energy is that it is clean and free. It does not produce any known waste products when one uses it, and aside from spending on solar panels and their installment, there are no monthly dues to worry about upon using this type of energy.

Other facts about the sun's energy pertain to how knowledge of it and its uses have developed. In North Africa, at the Mojave Desert, is where the biggest solar

plant can be found, indicating that people have really started to seriously consider it as a viable resource.

Aside from knowing how solar energy is obtained and used, it is also interesting to look at how it is created. The sun’s energy originates from its nucleus where the fusion of hydrogen forms helium.

Solar energy is truly powerful. In fact, only a small fraction of this energy reaches the earth as it is distributed in various directions, yet part of it is already conserved as a chemical energy in plants, aiding in the process of photosynthesis.

You may think that only electronic gadgets end up being powered by solar energy but this is not true. The sun’s energy is stored in organic materials as well and enables them to be used for many other purposes. Grains for instance, when fermented, become ethanol which can be used as fuel, and is nonetheless a product of solar energy. Coal is also a product of solar energy.

Not only does solar energy play a huge role on products and technology that people use, it also has a huge impact on the earth’s weather and climate. Areas near the equator experience a more focused energy coming from the sun, resulting into longer summer days and warm waters.

If there are any facts about the sun's energy which are of no secret to people, it may be that it takes some time – actually, quite a long time to gather sufficient solar energy. It may take a whole day for solar collectors to gain a significant amount of solar energy. Nevertheless, as human knowledge about the sun and technology continue to improve, solar energy is yet to be used and developed at its best.

The Life and Death of the Sun Perhaps one of the most dramatic facts about the sun is that although it seems

to be classified as a nonliving thing, it does experience life and death. The sun has been around for the longest time, living for centuries that it seems unthinkable for it to disappear. Yet, the truth is that there will come a time when the sun will cease to shine, although whether the human race will live to see that day cannot be said for sure.

Like all other stars, the life of the sun started when a lump of gas and dust went through high pressure and temperature strong enough to start nuclear fusion. It then fused hydrogen into helium, and in the process, produced light and heat. The sun continues to do so until today, and this is what enabled people to have an experience of the sun’s energy.

At first, the sun in its youth, gathered strong winds, clearing the solar system of other gases which have not been used in developing planets. But as the sun

aged, it has settled in this activity somehow, and has become even brighter and hotter as time passed by.

Based on the average lifetime of middling stars, the sun is believed by scientists to live for the next five billion years. The gas shines brightly and emits solar energy by burning hydrogen gas stored in its layers. The hottest portion of the sun is its core, and it is the core that heats the shell of hydrogen in the sun’s layers, fusing hydrogen into helium. This is the process responsible for explaining the sun’s energy.

Some facts about the sun and its life that need to be remembered are how it looks like and how it behaves once it reaches the later years of its life. The sun will run out of gas, so to speak and when that begins to happen, the core will no longer be the source of energy, but the layer close to the sun’s surface.

Towards the end of its life, the sun will increase in terms of size, with its radius being 30 times bigger. When this happens, the sun will be considered a red giant type of star. It will no longer look yellow, but red, with its temperature decreasing from 9,000 to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This is considered cool for a star. This phase of the sun as being a red giant is expected to last for about two billion years.

Even if the sun has cooled down at its red giant phase, it is at this stage when it will be bursting with energy, making living on earth impossible due to too much heat.

For 500 million years, the sun will enter another phase when the helium in its core fires up and fuses into carbon, releasing more energy. The sun will expand and grow so huge that it no longer holds itself together. The outer layers begin to waft away and wander into space as planetary nebula in a span of 10,000 years.

The fading of planetary nebula signals the end of the sun’s life. Its gaseous sphere drifts away and may be gathered in a new cloud that will become a part of a new star. As you can see, these facts about the sun, specifically - about its life and death, tell us that stars do have beginnings and endings.