Facts

Our Sun is a 4.5 billion-year-old yellow dwarf star – a hot glowing ball of hydrogen and helium – at the center of our solar system. It’s about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from Earth and it’s our solar system’s only star. Without the Sun’s energy, life as we know it could not exist on our home planet.

1. Nothing could live on the Sun, but its Energy is vital for most life on Earth.
2. The Sun is about 100 times wider than Earth and about 10 times wider than Jupiter, the biggest planet.
3. The Sun is the only star in our solar system. It is the center of our solar system, and its gravity holds the solar system together. Everything in our solar system revolves around it – the planets, asteroids, comets, and tiny bits of space debris.
4. The part of the Sun we see from Earth – the part we call the surface – is the photosphere. The Sun doesn’t actually have a solid surface because it’s a ball of plasma.
5. The Sun doesn’t have moons, but it’s orbited by eight planets, at least five dwarf planets, tens of thousands of asteroids, and perhaps three trillion comets and icy bodies.

Exploration

NASA and other international space agencies monitor the Sun 24/7 with a fleet of solar observatories, studying everything from the Sun’s atmosphere to its surface.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is studying our star from closer than any previous spacecraft. On Dec. 14, 2021, NASA announced that Parker had flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – the first time in history that a spacecraft had touched the Sun. Other active spacecraft monitoring the Sun include: Solar Orbiter, SOHO, ACE, IRIS, WIND, Hinode, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and STEREO.

Location

Center of the Solar System

First solar mission

March 25, 1951 (Explorer 10)

Earth's Moon is the brightest and largest object in our night sky. The Moon makes Earth a more livable planet by moderating our home planet's wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate. It also causes tides, creating a rhythm that has guided humans for thousands of years.

The Moon was likely formed after a Mars-sized body collided with Earth several billion years ago. Earth's only natural satellite is simply called "the Moon" because people didn't know other moons existed until Galileo Galilei discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610. In Latin, the Moon was called Luna, which is the main adjective for all things Moon-related: lunar.

An eclipse is an awe-inspiring celestial event that drastically changes the appearance of the two biggest objects we see in our sky: our Sun and Moon. On Earth, people can experience solar eclipses when Earth, the Moon, and the Sun line up.

Safety is the number one priority when viewing a solar eclipse. Be sure to follow these safety guidelines when viewing an eclipse.

Except for a specific and brief period of time during a total solar eclipse, you must never look directly at the Sun without proper eye protection, such as safe solar viewing glasses (eclipse glasses). Eclipse glasses are NOT the same as regular sunglasses; regular sunglasses are not safe for viewing the Sun.

During a total solar eclipse, you must wear your eclipse glasses (or use other solar filters) to view the Sun directly during the partial eclipse phase.

You can only take your glasses off during the short time when the Moon completely obscures the Sun – known as the period of totality. If you don’t have eclipse glasses, you can use an indirect viewing method, such as a pinhole projector, which projects an image of the Sun onto a nearby surface.

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Copyright © Jakub Michalczewski