It’s all
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