World Sun Day is celebrated on May 3, established in the 90s, with the aim of remembering and discussing the importance of this star for living beings. Here’s how the sun works and some curiosities.
The birth of the sun
The sun was born from a gas cloud, probably following the explosion of a supernova, about 4.6 billion years ago. Thanks to the pressure generated and the temperature, the nuclear fusion process has been triggered inside it which leads to the transformation of hydrogen into helium. Around the sun, thanks to the material that did not become part of the star, the so-called protoplanetary disk was formed from which the planets of the solar system were then formed.
The main features
The sun is located about 150 million kilometers from the Earth, to travel this distance light takes 8 minutes and 19 seconds. This star has a diameter of 1.4 million kilometers, more than a hundred times that of Earth, and has a mass about 330,000 times greater than that of our planet. The surface of the sun reaches a temperature of 5,500 degrees Celsius. Like other stars, the sun is made up of plasma. About 75% of its mass is hydrogen, 23% helium, and the remaining 2% other elements, including oxygen and carbon.
The death of the sun
Since its formation, the sun burns hydrogen and helium, when the reserve of these elements contained in the core of the star runs out it will transform into a red giant, where the helium merges and creates carbon. This, it is predicted, will happen in about 4.5 billion years. At this point the size of the sun will begin to grow up to encompass some planets of the solar system such as mercury and venus and perhaps even the earth. After this phase the sun will turn into a white dwarf, with dimensions similar to those of our planet.
Source-tg24.sky.it