The Sun’s Core: A Nuclear Furnace

The Sun’s core reaches about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough for nuclear fusion.
Hydrogen atoms fuse into helium in the core, releasing immense amounts of energy.
Every second, the core converts roughly 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium.
Fusion in the core produces photons that take thousands of years to reach the surface.
The core is under extreme pressure—about 250 billion times Earth’s atmospheric pressure.
The Sun’s energy output from its core equals 400 trillion trillion watts.
Neutrinos, nearly massless particles, stream out from the core at almost light speed.
Without the core’s nuclear furnace, life on Earth would not exist.
The Sun has been fusing hydrogen for 4.6 billion years and is halfway through its life.
Eventually, the core will run low on hydrogen, beginning the Sun’s red giant phase.