The sun was born 5000 million years ago from a cloud of hydrogen and helium mixed with dust. It is made of hot gases, containing many of the materials that we find here on earth. The sun is enormous. Even though it looks small, it is 93 million miles away (or 150 million km) The sun is so far away that if you drove a car at about 60 miles (or 80 km) an hour, it would take you 176 years to get there! THe sun will last for about another 5 billion years. After that it will exhaust its hydrogen and will enter a new phase of existance, burn its helium and expand to about 100 times its present size and become what is known as a red giant. After this it will run out of helium and collapse into a much smaller object called a red dwarf.

Huge explosions on the sun's surface are called solar flares, such as the one in the photo.

Elecronic devices called solar cells produce power for satellites and houses. In 1987, the solar powered 'Sunrayer Car' drove across Australia at at 66.9 km/hour (41.6 mph)

Facts

  The sun's temperature on the outside is 10,000 degrees Farenheit.

  The sun's temperature at the centre is 27,000,000 degrees Farenheit.