Nature fact

8. Our Star Without a doubt, if you were to list the "most important things in the solar system we live in", the Earth may be No.1, but the sun is No.2. And for all the reasons that you might expect and know. Its gravity holds the solar system together, keeping everything from the biggest planets to the smallest particles of debris in its orbit. Electric currents in the Sun generate a magnetic field that is carried out through the solar system by the solar wind—a stream of electrically charged gas blowing outward from the Sun in all directions. The connection and interactions between the Sun and Earth drive the seasons, ocean currents, weather, climate, radiation belts and aurora. In short, and in long, the sun is vital to just about everything we do on this planet, and we rely on the sun to do MANY things, even though we're honestly not controlling anything that it does. Which is a bit of an odd thing for humanity as humans like to control EVERYTHING that has to do with us. The sun is something we see almost every day (obviously unless cloud cover is blocking it or an eclipse is happening) and even when we don't see it, we feel its presence. It's more than just a ball of light in the sky, it's an energy source, a lifeline in many respects, and as noted above, it helps shape our planet in various ways that would detrimental if it WASN'T doing it. So if someone was to honestly ask you just how important the sun is, you should tell them all the ways we need the sun, our star, to shine on. 7. Distance From Earth and Its Size With a radius of 432,168.6 miles (695,508 kilometers), our Sun is not an especially large star—many are several times bigger—but it is still far more massive than our home planet: 332,946 Earths match the mass of the Sun. The Sun’s volume would need 1.3 million Earths to fill it.