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The Sun
The sun is a star. It is the largest object in our solar system and one of the larger stars in our galaxy. Galaxies are large clusters of many stars. The Milky Way, the galaxy we live in, is classified as a spiral type galaxy and is estimated to contain more than 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) stars including the star we call our sun.
Earth is a major body that orbits the sun and benefits from its energy. The sun is at the center of our solar system and all together nine major planets, including Earth, orbit around it. The earth is the third planet from the sun at a distance of about 93,000,000 (93 million) miles. If you could drive in a car to the sun at 60 miles per hour (mph) it would take you 177 years to get there. On the other hand, it only takes sunlight energy about 8 minutes to reach the earth from the surface of the sun, traveling at the speed of light of course.
Driving in your car to the Sun at 60 mph ...... ***
93,000,000 miles ÷ 60 miles per hour = 1,550,000 hours to reach the Sun in your car;
1,550,000 hours ÷ 24 hours per day = 64,583 days to reach the Sun in your car;
64,583 days ÷ 365 days per year = 177 years to reach the Sun in your car.
If your car gets 30 miles per gallon (mpg) you'll need a lot of gas.
93,000,000 miles ÷ 30 mpg = 3,100,000 gallons of gas.
Can we suggest you use a solar powered car instead?
Light Energy traveling to Earth ...... ***
The speed of light is equal to about 11,000,000 (11 million) miles per minute.
93,000,000 miles ÷ 11,000,000 miles per minute = 8.45 minutes for light to travel from the Sun to Earth.
***Numbers are rounded to the nearest whole number.
