How the sun was born
Most scientists think our sun began as an immense cloud of gas and dust.
Stars that are growing old often shoot out enormous clouds of gas and
dust. The gas and dust are made up of all kinds of chemicals. There are
many such clouds in space. As these clouds move through space, they pull
more and more gas and dust into themselves. Gravity pulls all the gas
and dust together, tighter and tighter. Over many millions of years, the
center of the cloud of gas is pulled into the shape of a gigantic ball.
Gravity squeezes this gas ball together so tightly its center is more
dense than steel! When gas is squeezed together that tightly, it becomes
tremendously hot. The center of the gas ball grows so hot that it
becomes an atomic furnace. The ball begins to glow with this fierce
heat. It has become a star!
This is how all stars seem to form. Right now, out in space, new stars
seem to be forming out of clouds of gas. And scientists think this is
how our own sun began, about five billion years ago.
