I’m front and center of it all,
Big ol’ burning, bright gas ball…
Planets spin around my girth,
Saturn, Neptune, Venus, Earth…
You couldn’t live,
You couldn’t see…
Without my solar energy,
I’m the mother of it all,
Summer, winter, spring and fall,
Providing light for plants to grow,
I’m the cause of rain and snow,
My bright sunlight lights the way,
Because of me there’s night and day,
I’m the Sun,
A burning star,
Without my heat,
You won’t go far,
There isn’t life without my shine…
That’s why I’m burning all the time…
Watch Mr. R.’s Solar Eclipse Video
The Sun is the star that is burning at the center of our solar system:
All planets orbit around this massive object.
The Sun is 109 times the mass of Earth and is mostly hydrogen and helium.
It is the Earth’s primary source of energy, and it is what allows all life to exist.
Although the distance from the Sun to Earth varies due to the Earth’s orbit, the average distance is about 93 million miles (150 million K).
It takes 8 minutes and 19 seconds for light from the Sun to reach Earth.
Now for the bad news (if you’re planning on being around in a billion years):
It is believed that the Sun’s energy increases by about 10% every billion years, and if that trend continues, some time in the next 1 billion years, liquid water will no longer exist on Earth (it will all evaporate), ending all life.
And if that’s not enough (And if you want to live for 5 billion more years):
The Sun is about 4.5 billion years old, and should continue to burn for another 5 billion years. At that point, scientists believe the Sun will become a ‘red giant’ star and expand to 250 times its current radius. Most likely, this giant star will swallow up Earth and other planets.