Sun - One in a Billion

Sun - One in a Billion

By Stacy McAnulty

Once upon a time - about 4.6 billion years ago - a magnificent and important star was born. And that magnificent and important star was me. Your Sun. (With a capital S.)

Yes, I am a star. According to the dictionary, star is a massive and luminous ball of gas, full of energy. Star also means an outstandingly talented and popular performer. I fit both definitions. 

The  Milky Way galaxy has over 100 billion stars. That makes me one in a billion. Or, um… one in 100 billion. I’m not the biggest. So what. Not the brightest. Who cares. Not the oldest. Whatever. But I am the most important. At least to you Earthlings.

Can you hang out for eight minutes? That’s how long it takes my light to reach Earth. Yep, I give you heat and light. You’re welcome. I’m so important that Earthlings should name a special day in my honor. We can call it Sundaaaa - oh, wait.

I’m famous for my heat and light, but I also hold our entire solar system together. Scientists call it gravity. What can I say? The planets are attracted to me. And because I’m the center of our solar system, life revolves around me - literally. Look! All planets are going in the same direction.

Those other starts are far, far far away from Earth. Which makes them look teeny tiny and not so important. I’m close - a mere 93 million miles from Earth. But to Neptunian, I’m 2,795 million miles away. (If there were Neptunians, There’s no known life on Neptune.)

Technically, I’m a yellow dwarf star. But I’m still a big, big deal. If I were the size of a basketball, Earth would be smaller than a grain of sand. You could fit about one million Earths inside me. But you can’t fill me with Earths because I’m hot stuff. A hot summer day is 90˚F. A pizza oven is 700˚F. The orange-yellow flames in a campfire is about 2,000˚F. The surface of me is about 10,000˚F, I can melt diamonds! And at my center, it reaches 27 million˚F.

Ancient Earthlings thought I circle the earth, can you imagine? Me revolving around Earth? And some might think that I sit in the sky all day and all night. But I got moves, baby. I’m spinning. And because I’m not solid, my middle moves faster than my top and bottom. Don’t try this at home. 

I'm not only important; I’m generous and good looking. I have beautiful sunrises, magnificent sunsets. Look at my awesome northern lights, and amazing southern lights… Sit back and enjoy the show.

Sometimes, I like to be mysterious and sneak away for a few minutes. Solar eclipse! But don’t worry, I’m just behind the Moon. While I’m astronomically bigger than the Moon (400 times wider), the Moon is astronomically closer to Earth (almost 400 times closer).

My neighbor stars have fancy names. Meet Proxima Centauri, Alpha Centauri A, and Alpha Centauri B. Me, I need just three letters. Give me an S! Give me a U! Give me a N! What does that spell? Sun! Sun, Sun, he’s our star. Light and heat from afar. Please note: that’s a capital S. I am important. 

Not to hog the spotlight, but I’ve still got it. I’m the same hot, bright star I’ve always been. A stable star is a good star. You don’t want your Sun getting hotter or cooling off. That would be really messy. So grab your shades. I plan to be in the biz for another five billion years. You and me, we’ve got a bright future together.