00:00We are going to learn about a massive star in the center of our solar system.
00:06What is it called?
00:08Yeah, the sun.
00:09Actually, the sun is the only star in our solar system.
00:13But still, it is huge, it is bright, and without it, life on Earth wouldn't exist.
00:19So it is super important.
00:22But let's start here.
00:24The first fact about the sun we want to learn is that the sun is just a regular star.
00:29That's right, it's just a regular star.
00:32There are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy called the Milky Way Galaxy.
00:39But the sun is special to us, right?
00:41Because it is in the center of our solar system.
00:44But the sun really is a regular star.
00:48Like other stars, the sun uses hydrogen to burn bright.
00:53Hydrogen is the sun's fuel.
00:55Just like food is our fuel, and gasoline is the fuel used by cars, the sun uses hydrogen as fuel.
01:04If you're wondering what hydrogen is, hydrogen is a gas found all over our universe.
01:11And it's hard to see because it doesn't have any color to it.
01:14But it's all over the place.
01:16In fact, hydrogen is the most common element in our universe.
01:21So stars use a gas called hydrogen as fuel.
01:25The larger the star, the faster it burns through hydrogen.
01:29Thankfully, the sun has at least a 5 billion year supply of hydrogen left.
01:35So the sun will keep burning for a long time.
01:38Here's an interesting question.
01:42How far is Earth from the sun?
01:44How far is our planet from this huge star in the center of our solar system?
01:52Well, it's pretty far away.
01:54It's pretty far away.
01:55The sun is about 93 million miles away from Earth.
02:00That's right.
02:01About 93 million miles away from our planet, Earth.
02:07And it's a good thing.
02:08It's a great thing that the sun is about 93 million miles away.
02:13Because if we were any closer to the sun, it would be way too hot to sustain life.
02:18And if we were further away, we would all freeze.
02:21It would be way too cold.
02:23So the sun is the perfect distance away from the Earth.
02:28Of course, having a huge star 93 million miles away helps us to see things, right?
02:34It is helpful to have a massive burning light in the middle of our solar system that runs on hydrogen.
02:40I mean, can you imagine living in a world without light?
02:45It would be like this.
02:46This is what our world would be like without sunlight.
02:50It would just be dark.
02:51You know, we wouldn't be able to see anything.
02:53We'd be like bumping into each other and it'd be crazy.
02:56We'd be like, oh, wow.
02:58Is that a mountain or is that a chicken or what's going on?
03:03Where am I?
03:04What's going on?
03:06The sunlight allows our eyes to see what's going on around us.
03:10But the sun provides more than just sunlight.
03:15The sun provides energy.
03:17One powerful way the sun provides energy is through a process called photosynthesis.
03:23Wow, that's a big word.
03:24Can you say that with us?
03:26Photosynthesis.
03:28Yeah, photosynthesis.
03:30Photosynthesis is how plants make plant food and produce oxygen.
03:35Without sunlight, plants cannot make plant food or release oxygen.
03:43You know, plants are not alone in using sunlight for energy.
03:47We use sunlight for energy as well.
03:50The energy we get from sunlight is called solar energy.
03:59Just like plants capture sunlight in the process of photosynthesis,
04:04people capture sunlight using these things called solar panels.
04:08Isn't that cool?
04:11Here are two men installing solar panels.
04:15The sun is powerful.
04:17It is awesome to see how we can use some of its energy to get power and electricity.
04:24It has been so much fun learning about the sun with you.
04:28We learned that the sun is the only star in our solar system.
04:35Do you remember where in our solar system the sun is?
04:40Uh-huh.
04:40Right in the middle.
04:42Yeah.
04:44Like other stars, it uses hydrogen as fuel.
04:48Thankfully, it has a lot of hydrogen,
04:51so it will keep burning and burning for a long time.
04:54We learned that the sun is about 93 million miles away,
04:58which is actually the perfect distance.
05:00If the sun was further away, it would be too cold.
05:03If it was closer, this planet would be way too hot.
05:09We also learned that the sun not only provides light,
05:14it brings energy.
05:15Plants use energy from the sun in a process called photosynthesis.
05:20And people get energy from the sun using things like solar panels.
05:25Energy from the sun is called solar energy.
05:31The sun.
05:32A regular star, but it is special to us.
05:36It's our star.
05:37Special thanks to our patrons who make these videos possible.
05:47If you would like to help us and also get some cool homeschool pop tattoos,
05:51click the link below the video or visit homeschoolpop.com to learn more.
05:56As always, you are so awesome.
05:58Thanks for learning with us.
06:00Thanks for listening.
