
Elements from the universe’s earliest stars gave birth to our sun
15 July 2020
It is easy to regard the sun as humdrum, yet it contains elements blasted from the universe’s first stars as they died and is halfway through its 9-billion-year lifespan

15 July 2020
It is easy to regard the sun as humdrum, yet it contains elements blasted from the universe’s first stars as they died and is halfway through its 9-billion-year lifespan

22 May 2019
The makeup of the moon shows that the young sun rotated slower than other similar stars, leaving the early solar system relatively calm so life could arise

6 December 2018
The area in our solar system within Mercury’s orbit is empty, which may be because solar winds threw all the rocks farther out, where they helped form planets

5 December 2018
If you want to find your way across the universe, forget using stars or GPS. The light from quasars billions of light years away can guide us and even help here on Earth

11 October 2018
Mesmerising footage from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and an exquisite Bronze Age golden disc help a new show capture our complex relationship with the sun

20 July 2018
The sun’s size changes throughout its 11-year cycle of magnetic activity, and measuring that growth may help us figure out what’s going on inside

18 July 2018
In the hunt for life beyond Earth, we've been looking for planets and stars like our own. But that is flawed – and a new plan promises answers in our lifetimes

7 May 2018
We used to think our sun was too small to produce a planetary nebula when it dies, but new models show it will indeed go out in a massive cloud of bright, hot gas

24 April 2018
A survey of the sun’s radiation turned up two surprises: a dip in low-energy gamma rays, and far more high-energy gamma rays than predicted. And nobody knows why

27 March 2018
The Parker Solar Probe is about to unlock the secrets of our star by flying into its fiery atmosphere – a mission that will push technology to the limit