• Question: how does the sun make enough energy and light for all the stars we see?

    Asked by Andrew to Camilla, Dan, Katie, Mike, Rhys on 17 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Katie Sparks

      Katie Sparks answered on 17 Jun 2015:

      The Sun makes its energy by smashing atoms together. Our Sun smashes hydrogen together to make Helium. Smashing the 2 together releases energy. On Earth, there are people trying to do this, as it’s a very efficient source of energy, if we can make it safe – so far, it’s only really possible on a big scale – star scale!
      Other stars do the same thing too. When a star has run out of hydrogen to smash together, it starts smashing together the helium – so it keeps making heavier and heavier atoms.
      Our Sun is a second generation star – we know this because we have elements that aren’t just hydrogen or helium around us – in it’s past it has exploded, throwing off all the heavy old stuff and leaving just the lighter hydrogen. All the solar system is made from the heavier older stuff.

    • Photo: Camilla Weiss

      Camilla Weiss answered on 19 Jun 2015:

      All the stars that you can see in the night sky are completely different stars to out sun. Our sun is quite small compared a lot of the stars out there although they all produce energy in the same way. When you’re looking at the light from the stars in the sky you’re actually looking back in time because those other stars are so far away that they light can take thousands or even millions of years to reach us.

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