Five surprising facts about the Sun

Without the Sun’s heat and light, life on Earth wouldn’t exist. Here are five amazing facts about this spectacular star.

1. The Sun isn’t yellow
During space missions, astronauts discovered the Sun is actually white. As you may already know, white is a mixture of every color. During the day, the Earth’s atmosphere scatters blue light more efficiently than red light. This causes the human eye to perceive the color of the Sun as yellow.

2. The Sun’s rays take time to get here
Sunlight takes about eight minutes to travel to Earth. If the Sun suddenly went out, you’d have time to play two or three songs before everything went dark.

3. The Sun is very old
The Sun is over 4.5 billion years old. Scientists have established this star is about halfway through its lifespan.

4. The Sun makes a sound
The Sun emits a low buzzing noise that sounds like a fan. The closer you get, the more clearly you can hear it.

5. The Sun is too far to drive to in a lifetime
If there was a road that went straight to the Sun, it would take more than 170 years to reach it by car, provided you were traveling at 60 miles per hour.

Incredible, isn’t it?