-Student

The sun, just like all

other stars, started off as
a nebula. One day, the
balance between the
gravitational pull and
pressure was disrupted
by a nearby supernova
or the collision of two
close range objects. This
caused the nebula to
collapse.

What a nebula looks

like >>

After the nebula

collapsed, gravity began
to pull the particles
together overtime. The
resulting friction caused
heat. Little pockets of
mass started to pull
together to form a
protostar, the first stage
in a stars lifecycles.
Our sun was once a
protostar.

Protostar>>

Over the time of being a

protostar, the mass of
heated particles became
hot enough to start
fusing hydrogen into
helium. This allowed
the star to go into the
next stage, the main
sequence stage. Our sun
is a main sequence star
right now.

Main sequence star>>

Overtime, the main

sequence star uses up its
store of hydrogen atoms
and starts trying to fuse
helium. While this is
happening, the outer
layers cool down and
expand. This results in a
Red Giant. Our suns next
stage will be becoming a
Red Giant. (Not all stars
become Red Giants, some
become Supernovas
instead, but our sun
doesnt have the mass to
become one).

Red Giant>>

Once the Red Giant uses

up its store of helium
atoms, it will try to fuse
heavier elements and
will fail. The outer
layers will detach from
the Red giant and float
off into space to become
a nebula again. The core
will stay dead and float
around in space. After
this occurs, the cycle
begins again.

Nebula >>

The sun is 4.5 billion

years old and will die
in 4.5 billion years.
The sun is made up of
hydrogen and helium.
To give you an idea of
how big the sun is, 1
million Earths could
fit inside the sun.

The sun>>

Nuclear Fusion in the

sun happens when the
suns core gets hot
enough to fuse
hydrogen into helium.
This fusion creates
energy to power the
sun. So in other
words, nuclear fusion
plays the role of the
powerhouse in our
sun.

Our sun>>

Of normal stars>>

Of our sun>>