What is a solar eclipse?

A solar eclipse happens when the Moon moves in its orbit between the Earth and the Sun. This blocks out the light of the Sun. It never lasts longer than 7.5 minutes though.

When the Moon completely blocks out the Sun it is called a total solar eclipse. When the Moon covers the Sun a little bit, it is called a partial solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse can happen once every 1-2 years. A total solar eclipse is the only time it is safe to look directly at the Sun. 

Fun facts about the Sun

There are so many exciting things to know about the Sun! Astronomers are scientists who study all sorts of crazy space stuff. They classify stars in letters according to their colour and temperature. The Sun is a class G star. Class G stars are yellow to white.

Here are some more cool facts to blow your mind:

• Someone who weighs 60kg on Earth would weigh 1680kg on the Sun.
• The Sun is one of 6000 stars that we can actually see from Earth with our naked eyes.

• The Sun is around 864,000 miles (1.4 million kilometres) wide, about 110 times wider than the Earth. Around one million Earths can fit inside the Sun.
• In many ancient cultures, the Sun was seen as a type of God.
• The Sun is the closest thing to a perfect sphere that has ever been seen in nature. It only has a 6.2 mile (10 kilometres) difference between its vertical and horizontal measurements.
• The Sun is so big it makes up 99.86% of the solar system’s mass.
• If you took an area of the Sun’s surface the size of a post stamp, it would light up 1,500,000 candles.
• Light travels from the Sun at about 300,000 km per second and takes around 8 minutes to reach Earth.
• The Sun also rotates but in a different way to the Earth.
• The Sun has the most powerful magnetic field in the whole Solar System. This field is regenerating itself, but scientists don’t really know how.

What are solar winds?

Solar winds are produced by the Sun and are made up of charged particles like electrons and protons which have escaped the Sun’s gravity. These particles escape the Sun’s gravity because of their high kinetic energy and because of the high temperature of the Sun’s corona (a type of plasma atmosphere around the Sun).

Solar winds erupt from cooler parts of the Sun’s surface known as sunspots and stream out into space. 

So how do we protect ourselves from these hot winds? Lucky for us we don’t have to worry about that, that’s what the atmosphere is for.

What is the Sun made of?

Like all stars, the Sun is made of gas and plasma, it’s a big ball of burning gas. It is made up of around 92.1% hydrogen, 7.8% helium and other gases like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, iron and neon. Deep in the Sun’s core the hydrogen in the centre of the Sun is slowly turned into helium through a process called nuclear fusion. This energy is released as heat and is what makes the Sun so hot.