When we discovered the Sun created its heat and light through nuclear fusion, we found that it emitted only a third of the neutrinos expected. The solution to that mystery led us to the discovery that neutrinos have mass.
Border Crossing
Eventually, the stream of the solar wind slows down enough that the interstellar wind can push back, which creates a boundary known as the heliopause. Beyond the heliopause, the interstellar wind dominates. Beyond the heliopause is interstellar space.
Spot the Pattern
We generally think of the Sun as a constant in our lives. It rises and sets regularly, and it seems to be an unchanging sphere of brilliant light. In fact, the Sun has a turbulent surface with prominences that fly off its surface, granules caused by convection in its upper layers, and even the appearance of slightly cooler regions known as sunspots.
The Sun’s Magic
Atoms and nuclei are not governed by the familiar rules of Newton but rather by the rules of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics can be a bit hard to wrap your head around, but one of the central principles is that you can never be entirely certain of things. If you want to know where an atom is, or what its energy is, you can never get an exact measurement. This “fuzziness” factor leads to a number of strange effects, of which one is quantum tunneling.
Rainbow Shadows
The part of the solar atmosphere that produces the light we see is called the photosphere. The solar atmosphere above that is cooler than the photosphere, so it creates an absorption spectra. This is useful because we can use it to identify what atoms or molecules are in the upper atmosphere of the sun, and of course that helps tell us what the sun is made of.
You’re Hot
A simple calculation shows that you produce more heat per volume than the Sun. Of course that result is a bit misleading.