The sun isn’t a planet, but is a dwarf star—Earth’s nearest star. This electrically charged gassy star has an outer layer, called the photosphere, which registers about 5,500 degrees Celsius (10,000 degrees Fahrenheit). However, at the sun’s core the temperature is about 15 million degrees C (27 million degrees F). The sun has a magnetic field and about every 11 years the sun’s magnetic field, north and south poles, switch ends. This is known as the solar cycle.

Beautiful auroras have their beginning with the sun. The amazing colorful display seen by the human eye has its beginning weeks prior due to activity on the surface of the sun. During a particular type of solar storm called a coronal mass ejection, the sun discharges large amounts of electrified gas and plasma into space. When those electrically charged particles enter Earth’s atmosphere and collide with molecules and atoms of gas, primarily oxygen and nitrogen, they release energy in the form of light.

Facts about the sun:

The sun is a giant hot sphere of gas at the center of our solar system. Nuclear fusion is the source of the sun's energy. The sun is the main source of energy for sustaining life on Earth. 

The sun is constantly ejecting charged particles and plasma, carried by the  solar wind, which, in part, makes Earth's aurora possible. Auroras also occur on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Sun statistics:

• Distance from Earth: 150 million km (93 million mi)

• Diameter: 109 x Earth

• Mass: 333,211 x Earth

• Core is 27 million degrees F (15 million degrees C)

• Time for one full rotation ("day"): 25.38 Earth days

• Light takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth