The Sun In Space   by Al Beckett

The Sun is the star of our solar system. The Earth and all the other matter in the solar system including the other planets, comets, asteroids and dust all orbit the Sun which in turn makes up more than 99% of the solar system's mass. Earth receives energy from the Sun in the form of sunlight, and it responsible for supporting life on this planet, the weather and the climate.

Hydrogen makes up around 74% of the Sun's mass, and 25% is helium, the rest of the Sun's mass is made up of heavier elements. The Sun rests in the centre of the solar system and is located around 25000 to 28000 light-years from the centre of the Milky Way, taking nearly 250 million years to complete one lap of the galaxy.

The Sun itself has a magnetic field which changes from year-to-year and reverses direction every 11 years. Sunspots of the surface of the Sun and solar wind are just some of the effects known as solar activity. On Earth, the effects of solar activity can disrupt radio communications and electronic power.

Currently the Sun has undergone study to find out the hows and whys of solar flares, sunspot activity, the magnetic interaction between the different parts of the Sun and the origin of something that is known as solar wind.

The Sun's current age is estimated to be about 4 and a half billion years old, it is what's known as a main sequence star, another way of looking at it is that the Sun is in fact "middle aged". At the moment nuclear fusion is occurring in the Sun's core where hydrogen is being fused into helium. 4 million tonnes of matter is converted into energy every second, producing particle called neutrinos and solar radiation.

At about 10 billion years old, the Sun will enter its Red Giant phase, its outer layers will expand while the core contracts and heats up as it has eaten away at its hydrogen supply. The Sun will continue to grow until it has engulfed Mercury and Venus, possibly pushing the orbit of the Earth out and just boiling away our water and atmosphere.

After its Red Giant phase, the Sun will throw out its outer layers, forming a planetary nebula, the only object left after this is the core, which is extremely hot, but begins to slowly cool and fade away into nothing over many billions of years.

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For more information about the Solar System visit: About The Nine Planets

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