• Question: How old is the sun ? the reason i am asking this question is becouse i want to know how long has the sun been in the solar sestem .

    Asked by nadona2001 to Anil, Blanka, Cees, Emma, Mike on 28 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by jacob983.
    • Photo: Emma Trantham

      Emma Trantham answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      I’ve been learning lots about the solar system today! This one I definitely needed to look up…

      The sun is 4 and a half billion years old!

      I guess the sun has technically been in the solar system the whole of its life because ‘solar system’ literally means the system around the sun. I think the planets etc. formed around the sun once the sun had come into existence but perhaps one of the other scientists will know more…

    • Photo: Blanka Sengerova

      Blanka Sengerova answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      Yes, as Emma says, the Sun is as old as the solar system (our solar system) because the presence of the Sun defines. What I don’t know though, and would be interested to know, is whether all the planets formed at the same time or whether that was a stepwise process. Anyone else to shed some light on this?

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