The Sun and its role in our galaxy

An introduction to the Sun and its role in our galaxy. The Sun is fundamental to our life on Earth. It is a huge ball of very hot gas. At its centre the temperature is 15 million degrees centigrade. A continuous reaction generates energy, some of which we receive as light and other forms of radiation. The Sun is part of a system of hundreds of billions of stars – a galaxy – called the Milky Way.