AstroCappella: The Sun Song
Music and Lyrics by Karen Smale
Our star, the Sun is a big ball of gas And it's 99 percent of our solar system's mass It's an average star in our Milky Way Warming the Earth every day What powers our Sun and makes it so bright? Come on and tell me, what makes all that light? Hans Bethe long ago reached the conclusion It changes Hydrogen to Helium by nuclear fusion When fusion takes place light is created And it makes its way out (although rather belated) Through the Photosphere that's the part that we see The light comes out and shines on you and me About a million Earths could fit in the Sun But if you were there you wouldn't have much fun It's six thousand degrees at the photosphere And much hotter inside the solar atmosphere There are a few places where it's not so hot Like at the center of a big sunspot But heat is relative it's still pretty warm Sitting on a sunspot would do you great harm Galileo discovered sunspots What are those things, those funny dots? They're cooler parts, scientists feel Caused by a stronger magnetic field Those spots move around the face of the Sun Proving to all... solar rotation! A strange kind of movement, to do a full roll 25 days in the middle, 36 at the poles What about flares? I've heard of them here They're like giant explosions in the Chromosphere The magnetic fields above those sunspots Reconnecting again after being in knots Above the Chromosphere the Corona is placed It's millions of degrees and reaches way into space It's very thin, but read my lips That's the part that you see in a solar eclipse That's the end of our song about Mr. Sun We hope that you find that learning is fun But never look at the Sun, you could go blind Just keep on enjoying that warm sunshine!