Most scientists think our sun began as a gigantic cloud of gas and dust.
Stars that are growing old often shoot out huge clouds of gases and dust. The gases and dust are made up of all kinds of chemicals. As these gas-and-dust clouds move through space, they pull more and more gases and dust into themselves.
Within each cloud, all the gases and dust come closer and closer together. Over many millions of years, the centre of the cloud is pulled into the shape of a huge ball. The ball’s centre becomes more dense, or packed, than a ball of steel. When gas is squeezed together that much, it becomes very hot. The tiniest parts of some of the gases begin to join together. The ball becomes even hotter and begins to glow.
This is how all new stars seem to form. Most scientists think this is how our own sun began, over 4 ½ billion years ago.
