The Milky Way is home to billions of stars, and the universe is home to billions of galaxies. Our star, the Sun, has created a residential spot we call the Solar System. The Sun is the true centre of the Solar System: not only does everything else orbit around it, from asteroids to gas giants, but it makes up 99.8 per cent of the Solar System’s mass and is 108 times the diameter of Earth.
This colossus was formed 4.6 billion years ago from a cloud of dust and gas. After this cloud began to rotate and collapse, it took 50 million years to form and become the star it is today. This was the point where the core of the star reached pressures and temperatures so intense that nuclear fusion was ignited.
