The sun is really just a star. It seems brighter than anything else because it is so close to the Earth. The sun is a ball of gas that gives off light and heat. Everything on the Earth needs this light and heat in order to live.

The sun is a million times bigger than the Earth. The hottest part of the Sun is in the middle.  If you look at pictures of the Sun, you sometimes see dark spots. Those dark spots are places where it is a little cooler. On the inside, the sun is about 14 million degrees celsius! On the surface, it is about 6000 degrees Celsius.

The sun is at the middle of our solar system. All of the planets and their moons circle around the sun. This is called orbit. The sun has gravity, and this is what holds the planets in their orbits. If you could see the orbits, they would look like big circles that the planets make around the sun.

Think about it:  What would happen to all of the plants on Earth if there was no sunlight? Would they live or die? Why?

To learn more about the Sun, visit this site:  http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/solarsystem/sun.shtml