This is the story of humankind’s quest over centuries to learn the true nature of the most dominant object in our Solar System: the Sun.
Award-winning science writer Peter Bond describes in detail how our ideas about the Sun have changed over the millennia, starting with the simple observations of classical astronomy and continuing through telescopic observations to the age of nuclear physics. He shows how we discovered the Sun’s basic characteristics – its distance, size, temperature and composition – and then describes how, with evermore sophisticated instruments, we have learned about the Sun’s enormous energy output, its atmosphere and the explosive eruptions that blast clouds of magnetized gas and high-energy particles toward our world.Richly illustrated with mission photos, design diagrams, and infocharts, this book is a fascinating read for anybody interested in the Sun and our attempts to unravel its secrets.