Science Station

1. Science Station Earth Systems, Structures, and Processes

2. The Sun Welcome to Lesson 26!! Today we will: • Learn how the Earth’s position to the sun, changes how sunlight hits us on earth.

3. What is the Sun? Some things you should know about the sun: • The Sun is a star - it is not a planet. • Our Sun is just like the stars we see in the night sky. The Sun is also the only star we see during the daytime.

4. What is the Sun? • The Sun is so big that you could fit more than 1 million earths inside of it! It measures more than a million kilometers across. • The Sun's center is about 15 million degrees Celsius. The Sun is so hot that planets millions of kilometers away can feel its heat... That's *mighty hot*! • The Sun is about 75% hydrogen and 25% helium!

5. The Sun The Earth's seasons are not caused by the differences in the distance from the Sun throughout the year (these differences are extremely small). The seasons are the result of the tilt of the Earth's axis.

6. The Sun The Earth's axis is tilted 23.45°. This tilting is what gives us the four seasons of the year - spring, summer, autumn (fall) and winter. Since the axis is tilted, different parts of the globe are oriented towards the Sun at different times of the year.

7. The Sun Summer is warmer than winter because the Sun's rays hit the Earth at a more direct angle during summer than during winter and also because the days are much longer than the nights during the summer. During the winter, the Sun's rays hit the Earth at an extreme angle, and the days are very short. These effects are due to the tilt of the Earth's axis.

8. The Sun

9. Next Time Today we learned what the sun is. We also discussed how the sun creates the seasons. Next time we will discuss the seasons more in depth. See you next time!!