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How Old is the Sun?

Answer – The Sun is about 4.56 billion years old.

Explanation:

The Sun and the solar system are believed to have been formed at about the same time. So, in order to determine the Sun’s age, scientists attempted to calculate the ages of the oldest objects in the solar system – a few meteorites. This they did through radioactive dating of these meteorites. 

Thus, the Sun’s age is determined to be approximately 4.56 billion years.

The Sun and the solar system were formed when a cloud of dust was struck by a shockwave emanating from a nearby exploding star. The dust cloud collapsed into a flat, spinning nebula, at the center of which most of its mass (hydrogen and helium) collected. This led to a gravitational field being set up at this point which pulled more matter towards it. As its mass increased, so did its temperature and pressure. This resulted in the nuclear fusion of the collected gases, and the Sun was formed.


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