The sun seems to be a quiet and helpful star. It brings the world light and helps plants grow. However, our nearest star is really a super hot ball of gas, with a stormy surfacetemperature of 11, 000℉.
The sun is 93 million miles away. Even so, the stormy solar weather can cause problems on Earth. Solar storms can cut off electricity, and phone service. Even the satellites will get out of their way because of the solar storms. Scientists want to know more about how the sun causes these problems. Luckily, they have a lot of help from some amazing space probes.
Since December, 1995 the SOHO probe has been going around the sun. SOHO takes close-up photos of the sun. And it has discovered the gas that is deep inside the sun. The gas may help explain the sun's 11-year cycle. Every 11 years the number of sunspots and flares on the sun increases. Sunspots are cooler patcheson the sun's surface. They look like dark spots. Flares are energycoming from the sun and then goes into the space. Sunspots and flares can cut off communications on Earth. They can be also harmful for astronauts in space.
The ACE probe is also giving information to Earth. ACE's job is to search the solar wind by following it. This is a group of particles that come out from the sun. The particles are 2, 000, 000℉! The solar wind changes weather on all the planets, including Earth.
Scientists have learned much about the sun. The star is more than just a silent one. "We thought the inside of the sun was simple in the past," says scientist John Harvey. "But that was before we were able to see into it."
