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Every morning the Sun rises into the sky and brings light and warmth to the Earth. Without the Sun's light and heat, the Earth would be a dark, cold and lifeless planet. The Sun is quite different from all the other bodies in the Solar System. For one thing, it is very much bigger: it could swallow more than a million Earth'! For another, it is a great ball of searing hot, glowing gas. It is the only body that gives out light of its own. All the other bodies-planets, moons and comets-shine because they reflect the Sun's light. The Sun is, in fact, a star. It is much like the other stars we see in the sky. But it appears bigger and brighter because it is so very much closer to us. If we could hitch a ride on a beam of light, it would take us only about eight minutes to reach the Sun. But it would take us four years and three months to reach the next nearest star! Like other stars, the Sun is made up mainly of a gas called hydrogen. This gas acts like a fuel to produce the energy which keeps the Sun shining. The energy is produced deep inside the Sun. It travels slowly to the surface, from where it is given out, or radiated, as light and heat into space. We call the bright surface of the Sun, the photosphere ('light-sphere'). To Download a Video of the Sun Click Here |
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