It’s all bright now
HAVE you been enjoying the sunshine or do you love the shade? Whatever you prefer, it’s incredible to think that the sun, our nearest star, is responsible for keeping all life on Earth going.
Without the sun’s energy there would be no light, no seasons, no plants and no animals. Earth would be a frozen rock.
We can feel the heat of the sun from 93 million miles away, so imagine how hot its surface would be – scientists say around 5,700°C.
Compared to the Earth, the sun is huge. It has a radius of 696,000km while our planet measures just 6,376km from core to crust.
If you were to visit the sun you wouldn’t be able to land as the star is gaseous with no solid surface.
The gases on the sun’s surface are electrically charged and create powerful magnetic fields which are constantly moving, stretching, twisting and tangling together, making the surface of the sun a very active and volatile place.
Gases and particles that fly off
into space are known as solar wind.
These particles can be sent hurtling towards Earth at up to a million miles per hour but luckily our planet has a magnetic field and atmosphere of gases which protect us from solar wind blasts.
Some particles do make it through though and, when these hit the atmosphere, they create auroras. Perhaps the most wellknown cosmic light display is Aurora Borealis or the Northern
Lights which glows in the sky over the North Pole and can sometimes be seen as far away as the UK.
Strong geomagnetic storms can cause solar flares – explosions accompanied by huge eruptions.
Intense solar storms are bad news for our planet as the extra radiation can damage the satellites we use for communication and navigation. They can also be dangerous for astronauts in space.
A sudden solar storm could reach Earth in minutes, so it’s important that scientists monitor the sun’s activity, predicting when storms are likely to occur and how strong they will be.
The Met Office, the national meteorological service for the UK, gives the weather forecast both here on Earth and in space, too.
To find out what scientists are predicting for the next few days and see daily videos of the sun’s surface, visit metoffice.gov.uk/ weather/specialist-forecasts/ space-weather.
You may not be able to look into the sun, but you can certainly keep your eye on it!