There's more to the Sun than meets the eye.*
*Figuratively. Please don't stare directly at the Sun. 

There is the Sun we know. It rises and sets at predictable times. It provides us light and warmth. But the Sun is so much more. 

Activity on the Sun can impact space weather and our life here on Earth. 

Upcoming Programs

    Photo of the sun with the AirSpace logo on top of it
    Event

    AirSpace On Tap

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    -
    A person looking through a telescope outside
    Event

    Observe the Sun

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
    A person looking through a telescope outside
    Event

    Observe the Sun

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
    A person looking through a telescope outside
    Event

    Observe the Sun

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
    A person looking through a telescope outside
    Event

    Observe the Sun

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
    A person looking through a telescope outside
    Event

    Observe the Sun

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
    A person looking through a telescope outside
    Event

    Observe the Sun

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
    A person looking through a telescope outside
    Event

    Observe the Sun

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
    A child looking through a telescope while a museum educator assists
    Event

    Second Saturday Sungazing

    Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA
    -
    A person looking through a telescope outside
    Event

    Observe the Sun

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
    A person looking through a telescope outside
    Event

    Observe the Sun

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
    A person looking through a telescope outside
    Event

    Observe the Sun

    National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC
    Fridays and Saturdays from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm, weather permitting.
    A closeup image of the sun in which you can see the swirling gases and a flare erupting.

    What is solar maximum?

    The Sun has a cycle of activity that lasts an average of eleven years. 

    During the more active part of the cycle, we observe more features and events such as sunspots, solar flares, and eruptions of gas. This period is called solar maximum, and it can last several years. 

    The Sun is at solar maximum now, and the high activity has caused several big shows of the auroras, or northern lights, across the world in the past year. 

    Artist illustration the Sun almost impacted by a wave of signals.

    How does the Sun affect us on Earth?

    The Sun and Earth are constantly interacting. The Sun provides warmth and light and the Earth’s magnetic field protects us from the Sun’s more dangerous radiation. 

    Extreme events on the Sun can create space weather—major disturbances in the bubble around the Earth where the Earth’s magnetic field dominates.

    How Sun and Space Weather Affected a Baseball Game
    Illustration of a spacecraft approaching the Sun.

    How do we study the Sun?

    Parker Solar Probe

    On August 12, 2018, NASA launched the Parker Solar Probe, a spacecraft designed to study the Sun and its environment. Since then, Parker has sped through the inner solar system, equipped with a suite of instruments built to withstand the Sun’s incredible heat, to investigate unresolved mysteries about our nearest star.

     

    Explainer for Young Learners
    Explainer for Adults
    White cylindrical metal tube with eight solar panels. Construction is aluminum sheet, panels and ribbing, riveted, with some electronics connections.

    Advanced Orbiting Solar Observatory

    This is a full-scale model of a satellite destined to be a free-flying, robotic, polar-orbiting satellite system capable of continuously monitoring the Sun and near solar environment. 

    More About the Solar Observatory
    A black-and-white image of a total solar eclipse shows the sun's bright corona peaking out from the edges of the moon.
    More About

    The Sun

    More About This Topic