The Sun is a massive, white ball of gas that fuels the solar system. Without it, life wouldn’t be able to survive on earth. It has lived for billions of years, providing energy and light. Nothing can live without it.
The Sun, which is also called Sol, is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old with up to five billion years left in its life. It is currently in its yellow dwarf phase of life. It is located in the Milky Way galaxy in a spiral arm known as the Orion Arm. The Sun orbits the center of the galaxy at a speed of 720,000 kilometers per hour, but it takes 230 million years to make a full orbit. It has a mass that is estimated to be 1.988×1030 kg, which is 330,000 times the mass of Earth. This allows it to have a strong enough gravitational …show more content…
The sun produces its energy through a process known as nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is when two atoms combine to form a single atom and a high amount of energy is released. In the Sun, fusion happens with mostly hydrogen atoms, which combine to form a helium atom. Two helium atoms can later combine through fusion and create a carbon atom. Like stated before, this process happens only in the core of the sun. Every second, the sun burns around 600 million tons of hydrogen atoms to keep it going. Because of this, the amount of pressure in the sun is so great that the sun could explode. This would never happen because the pressure in the sun is balanced out by its strong gravitational pull. The process of nuclear fusion will take place in the sun for the next five billion years. When time is up, the hydrogen will be used up, fusion will stop, and the sun will transform itself into a red …show more content…
These two points are known as the solstices. The winter solstice, which is on December 21st, is where the Earth is the furthest from the sun, making the days cold and short. The summer solstice, which is on June 21st, is where the Earth is closest to the sun, so the days are warmer and longer. This isn’t true for all of Earth as the southern hemisphere experiences the opposite of these conditions. The only time this is false is during the equinoxes, which are on March 21st and September 21st. During the equinoxes, the sun directly hits the equator, causing the northern and southern hemispheres to feel the same
The Sun, which is also called Sol, is estimated to be 4.6 billion years old with up to five billion years left in its life. It is currently in its yellow dwarf phase of life. It is located in the Milky Way galaxy in a spiral arm known as the Orion Arm. The Sun orbits the center of the galaxy at a speed of 720,000 kilometers per hour, but it takes 230 million years to make a full orbit. It has a mass that is estimated to be 1.988×1030 kg, which is 330,000 times the mass of Earth. This allows it to have a strong enough gravitational …show more content…
The sun produces its energy through a process known as nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is when two atoms combine to form a single atom and a high amount of energy is released. In the Sun, fusion happens with mostly hydrogen atoms, which combine to form a helium atom. Two helium atoms can later combine through fusion and create a carbon atom. Like stated before, this process happens only in the core of the sun. Every second, the sun burns around 600 million tons of hydrogen atoms to keep it going. Because of this, the amount of pressure in the sun is so great that the sun could explode. This would never happen because the pressure in the sun is balanced out by its strong gravitational pull. The process of nuclear fusion will take place in the sun for the next five billion years. When time is up, the hydrogen will be used up, fusion will stop, and the sun will transform itself into a red …show more content…
These two points are known as the solstices. The winter solstice, which is on December 21st, is where the Earth is the furthest from the sun, making the days cold and short. The summer solstice, which is on June 21st, is where the Earth is closest to the sun, so the days are warmer and longer. This isn’t true for all of Earth as the southern hemisphere experiences the opposite of these conditions. The only time this is false is during the equinoxes, which are on March 21st and September 21st. During the equinoxes, the sun directly hits the equator, causing the northern and southern hemispheres to feel the same