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Our Life-Giving Sun


© Dina Ely

Sep 6, 2003


Without the Sun, our solar system would be a dark and barren place. We owe our very lives to the warmth and light of the Sun. In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about the Sun that sustains us!

The Sun is the largest object in our solar system, by far. It's so large it contains almost 98% of the entire mass in the solar system. That means only 2% of the mass of our solar system is made up of space matter like our nine planets, asteroids, etc.!

The Sun is actually a star, and even though it seems huge when compared to the planets and other objects in our galaxy, it is actually only a medium-sized star. Just think, there are lots of other stars in the universe that are much bigger than our Sun! (They are, however, so far away from us that they all look like tiny points of light when we gaze into the sky at night.)

Like all stars, our Sun is made up of very hot gases. Our Sun contains mostly hydrogen (which is a vital element to life and the most plentiful element in the universe). The diameter of the Sun (you measure diameter by drawing a straight line from one side of the Sun to the other side) is approximately 1.4 million kilometers, which is incredibly huge by Earth standards! The Earth's diameter is only approximately 12,760 kilometers.

Because the Sun is so big, all of the planets and other objects in our solar system are caught in its orbit. That means everything in the solar system rotates around the Sun. In fact, the very word "solar" means "of or pertaining to the Sun", so solar systems always contain a major star like our Sun!

The Sun regularly gives off "flares", which look like a small arm reaching out from the Sun and lashing out into space. A solar flare is actually an explosion on the Sun. These flares can contain so much energy that an average flare could power the entire United States for two years! When a serious solar flare occurs, excess radiation (radioactive energy) can hit the Earth, causing temporary problems like disruptions of radio waves.

There are dark spots on the Sun which are called "sun spots". The number of suns spots on the Sun changes. The regular changing of sun spots and other activity on the Sun (such as flares) is called the "solar cycle". A solar cycle is approximately 11 Earth years in length.

     

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages
5.   Oct 14, 2003 10:26 AM
Do you realize that until Noah's Flood, the sky was overcast all the time? The sun therefore did not have the stinging power which it now has. At that time plants received water through dew rather t ...

-- posted by biogardener
4.   Sep 19, 2003 12:36 PM
In response to message posted by Dantessa:

During WW II, the only sun I remember getting was on the handball courts in Panama. My ...

-- posted by humorous_sage
3.   Sep 17, 2003 3:17 AM
I think that is the name of a song or at least a phrase out of one.

If you want to write an article on the moon, I have a great site from where you can use free photographs. I have used some of th ...

-- posted by biogardener
2.   Sep 16, 2003 5:30 PM
Eep--I understand what you're going through. My grandpa got himself a nice case of skin cancer after spending so much time in the sun in the service in WW2. My uncle had the same problem years after V ...

-- posted by Dantessa
1.   Sep 16, 2003 3:53 PM
In my youth, I loved the sun and spent most of the winter waiting for the day when I could start working on my tan. Now, I am payiing the price. I visit Mac the Knife at least twice a year and have ...

-- posted by humorous_sage



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