Our sun has three layers: at the surface it is 5500 degrees, at the corona it is about 1 million degrees, and at the core it is a blazing 15 million degrees! Even though it is VERY hot, the sun isn’t the hottest star in the universe, because our star is white and even hotter stars are blue. The sun also has black splotches on it, called sunspots. These sunspots still burn as hot as the rest of the sun, but they are darker. As you may know, the sun is the most important thing in the universe to us; because it brings us the right amount of light and warmth to keep us alive, the Earth doesn’t burn up or freeze.

The sun has many effects on Earth, like the wind cycle. The sun warms the air causing it to rise, where it is replaced by cooler air, and pushed across the Earth called wind. One other effect is the water cycle. The sun heats up water into vapor, which then rises to form clouds, and is dropped down onto the ground again. In the air, liquids, gases, and in solids, all of them move in patterns because of heat. In the air and gases heat travels in waves, in liquids heat travels in circulating motions, and in solids it travels from particle to particle.

The sun gives us many different forms of energy, like coal. Coal is made when the sun’s energy is stored in it and is released when burned. Oil is another useful source: fish eat plants that have grown because of the sun and when they die they are covered in layers of rock until made into oil. High powered drills then bring up the oil for us to use. We also use wind for energy, when the wind cycle happens we use windmills to generate energy because it moves the blades which keeps the motor moving.

Reading “Our Super Star” reminds me of how all different cultures had a sun god and most portrayed it as the most powerful god, because of how important it was to them (and still is).