Can you remember a day when it was hot? Maybe even 100 degrees? What do you know about the source of that heat, the sun? The sun began as a cloud of dust about 4.5 million years ago. The sun is made of helium and hydrogen gases. The temperature of the sun is 10,000 degrees. While the sun looks close it takes sunlight eight minutes to reach earth. These are a few facts. What else do you know about the sun?