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Whatever we call that bright ball in the morning sky, our sun makes the world a place where we can live — giving warmth and light to plants, animals, and people. It is the closest star to Earth, and it sits at the center of our solar system while all eight planets travel around it.

The sun is a star

The sun looks different from the stars we see at night only because it is so much closer. If you could travel out among the other stars in our galaxy, our sun would look like just another small point of light. It is a huge glowing ball of gas — mostly hydrogen and helium — and deep inside it the hydrogen is constantly being turned into helium, which releases the energy we feel as sunshine.

Parts of the sun

Even though the sun is a ball of gas, it has distinct layers. Working outward from the middle:

• Core — the center of the sun, where the hydrogen is fused into helium. This is where the sun's energy is made.
• Radiative zone — a thick layer where the energy from the core slowly bounces its way outward as light and heat.
• Convective zone — a bubbling layer, like a pot of soup, where hot gas rises, cools, and sinks again, carrying energy toward the surface.
• Photosphere — the "surface" we see, the part that actually glows yellow-white.
• Chromosphere — a thin reddish layer just above the photosphere, usually only visible during a solar eclipse.
• Corona — the sun's outer atmosphere, a pale crown of gas that stretches millions of miles into space.

Things to watch for

• Sunspots — darker, cooler patches on the photosphere that come and go over weeks.
• Solar prominences — huge loops of glowing gas that arch up from the surface.
• Solar wind — a steady stream of tiny particles blown out from the corona; when it reaches Earth's poles it makes the northern and southern lights.

Printout

Here is a printout of the layers and parts of the sun you can use to make reading and vocabulary cards with your child.

Try this at home

• Stand outside on a sunny morning and a sunny afternoon. Notice how your shadow gets shorter and then longer — that is the sun appearing to move across the sky as the Earth rotates.
• On a safe, cloudless day, lay a white sheet of paper on the ground and hold a colander above it. The little dots of light are tiny images of the sun projected through each hole. (Never look at the sun directly.)
• Cut out the six layer cards from the printout and arrange them in order, core on the inside and corona on the outside.
• Talk about what the sun gives to living things — light, warmth, and the energy that plants use to grow.

A safety note

Never look straight at the sun, and never look at it through binoculars, a telescope, or a camera lens without a proper solar filter. Even a few seconds can damage eyes permanently. Shadow games and colander pinhole projections are wonderful safe ways to watch the sun.

Books we like

A couple of picture books that pair well with this lesson (affiliate links):

• National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Space — big photos and short text, good for ages 4–8.
• Absolute Expert: Space — a longer read-aloud for curious 7–10 year olds who want more about stars, the sun, and space weather.