Learn about our sun

The sun is a window into our universe!
By studying the sun, we deepen our understanding of all the other stars you see in the sky & beyond…

Get the latest updates about sun activity!

Get the latest updates about sun activity!

Total Solar Eclipse

🌞 🌑 🌎 April 8, 2024 🇲🇽 🇺🇸 🇨🇦

Don’t miss this, because you won’t see another major solar eclipse in the USA until 2045!!

Totality first touches Mexico, enters the United States at Texas, cuts a diagonal to Maine, and visits the maritime provinces of Canada. The next total solar eclipse in the US is in 2045, so don’t miss this!

Photo by Karen Kayser

OUR NEAREST STAR

Learn more about the sun, solar missions, space weather, eclipses & transits, aurora, the heliosphere, and related science.

Rollover each box to learn more…

About the Sun

The Sun is 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) away from the Earth. It’s the only star that humanity has visited.

Solar Missions

Learn about solar missions such as Parker Solar Probe, SDO, SOHO, Stereo & Solar Orbiter. They study the star in our backyard.

Space Weather

Space weather includes any and all conditions and events on the sun, in the solar wind, in near-Earth and in our upper atmosphere.

Eclipses & Transits

A transit is when one object crosses in front of another in space. A transit is called an eclipse when it involves the Sun, Earth & Moon.

Aurora

Aurora are natural, multicolored lights displays that can primarily been seen at high latitudes, near the north and south poles.

Heliosphere

The heliosphere is the sun’s extended atmosphere that surrounds the entire solar system. It is a vast, bubble-like region of space.

Parker Solar Probe

Photo Credit: Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Parker Solar Probe

Humanity’s First Visit to a Star

Parker Solar Probe is a historic mission, flying into the Sun’s atmosphere (or corona) for the first time! It will have 24 orbits around the sun, traveling at a top speed of 430,000 mph—the fastest man-made object ever! It can also withstand temperatures outside the spacecraft that reach nearly 2,500°F (1,377°C)!

Parker Solar Probe has now touched the sun!

The Sun Today

Current observations of the Sun as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) & the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

The Sun emits light in all colors. Specialized instruments can observe light far beyond the ranges visible to the naked eye. The “false colors” are chosen to best highlight features in each wavelength.

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