5 Sensational Sun Facts
It’s the centerpiece of our solar system and the brightest object in our sky. The solar system
even borrows its terminology from the sun’s Latin name, sol. How much do you really know
about the sun? Brighten your day with some sun trivia!
The sun contains 99% of all mass in the solar system.
That’s right – the sun’s gravity is so strong that most matter
can’t escape its pull. The remaining 1% of mass is made up of
eight planets and five dwarf planets, as well as more than 200
moons, 4,000 comets, and 800,000 asteroids!
The sun is not solid.
Unlike Earth, which is comprised of rock and metal substances,
the sun is almost completely made of gas. About three
quarters of its mass is hydrogen, and the rest is mostly helium,
with traces of a few other gases and metals also present.
A large solar flare erupts from the
sun’s surface.
The sun’s glow is caused by nuclear fusion.
The sun’s hot core (around 27 million degrees!) consists largely of superheated hydrogen, which
rises away from the core as it burns. As it reaches the surface, it cools to a not-so-chilly 10,000
degrees, and the hydrogen atoms combine to form helium through the process of
thermonuclear fusion*. The heavier helium sinks back to the core, disintegrates back into
hydrogen, and reheats to start the energy-creating process over again.
The sun’s energy can disrupt communication on Earth.
When superheated gas erupts from the sun’s surface into space, it creates a solar flare. If a solar
flare is large enough, it can launch so much energy into space that
the radiation can reach Earth, interrupt satellite communications, and
disrupt human technologies from GPS navigation to electrical power
grids. Fortunately, scientists have learned to predict and prepare for
“space weather.”
There is “wind” on the sun.
Due to extreme heat in the sun’s outer atmosphere (up to 2 million
degrees), atoms of hydrogen and helium break down into subatomic
particles. Some of these fast-moving particles escape the sun’s
gravity and fly through space in what scientists call the solar wind.
This electrically-charged stream interacts with Earth’s magnetic field,
Due to the sun’s magnetic field, creating the spectacular colors of the aurora borealis and aurora
the solar wind moves fastest near australis – the northern and southern lights – which can be seen from
the sun’s poles. Earth’s extreme northern and southern hemispheres.
*Thermonuclear fusion creates energy by combining small hydrogen atoms into larger helium atoms, producing
extra energy as a byproduct. The technology to create energy this way does not yet exist on Earth.
©English Teacher Mommy
Brielle Sifuntes
Name: ________________________________
Analyze Text Features
“5 Sensational Sun Facts”
1. Which text features are found in this article? Label each one in the article.
____ Title ____ Picture ____ Caption
____ Subtitle ____ Map or diagram ____ Sidebar
____ Headings (how many? ____)
5 ____ Graph ____ Bullets
____ Bold or italic text ____ Glossary ____ Footnote
2. Under which heading can you learn what a solar flare is?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
"The sun's energy can disrupt communication on Earth."
3. Under which heading can you learn how the sun produces energy?
"The sun's glow is caused by nuclear fusion."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Why does the picture need a caption? __________________________________________________
It explains that the glowing ball is the sun and what shape is shown on its side.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Which words are bold? Why? ___________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Thermonuclear fusion is bold because the term is explained in the footnote
6. Which word is italicized? Why? _________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Sol is italicized because it is a word from another language- Latin.
7. Which text feature tells you what thermonuclear fusion is?
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The footnote
8. What is one fact found only in a caption, not in the main text? ________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The diagram's caption is the only place that says solar wind is fastest near the sun's
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
poles.
9. What does the diagram show? _________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The general direction of solar wind
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
©English Teacher Mommy
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