By: John

• It gives us light.
• It causes our weather.
• It helps plants grow.
• It supports all life on Earth.

• The sun is a hot ball of gas.
It is made of hydrogen and helium.
• The sun’s gravitational pull keeps all of the planets in orbit.
• When a side of the Earth is facing the sun, it is day.
• When a side of the Earth is facing away from the sun, it is night.

The Structure of the Sun

The Photosphere and
Chromosphere
The photosphere is the
1 st layer of the sun’s atmosphere. It is the part of the sun we can see.
The chromosphere is the
2 nd layer of the sun’s atmosphere. This is where there are many solar storms.
The chromosphere is nearly invisible from the surface of the Earth except during a total solar eclipse.

• The corona is the sun’s outer atmosphere.
• It has a temperature of millions of degrees!
• The glow of the corona is a million times less bright than that of the photosphere, so it can only be seen during a total solar eclipse.

Sunspots are dark areas that appear on the surface of the
Sun.
Sunspots are dark because they are colder than the areas around them.
Sunspots are like storms on the sun.

Solar flares are like big explosions of energy!
Flares usually last a few minutes and can release as much energy as millions of hydrogen bombs!
Smaller flares can occur daily and large flares can occur about once a week.

A prominence is a huge burst of gas from the Sun's surface.
It often looks like a loop.

• Skylab had 8 telescopes aboard to watch the sun!
• Ulysses was built by the
European Space Agency specifically to study the sun.
• SOHO was lost in space for
3 months before it was found!

• The sun has been burning for
5 billion years!
• Astronomers believe it will burn for another 5 billion years!
• When the sun burns out, a new star could be formed…………maybe the center of a
WHOLE NEW SOLAR SYSTEM!