A Golden Age for Solar Physics

The Sun occupies a unique position in astrophysics, because it is the only star we can examine in sufficient detail to learn about stellar phenomena at the level of the basic underlying atomic physics, nuclear physics, plasma physics and magnetohydrodynamics. Ongoing solar research affects a large number of models and theories of stellar phenomena. These include the fundamental theory of the generation of thermonuclear energy in stars, theories of energy transport in stellar envelopes, models of stellar structure and evolution, theories of stellar rotation and cycles of activity, models of stellar winds and coronae, and theories of stellar magnetism and the explosive release of stored magnetic energy, which accelerates particles to energies of billions of electron volts per nucleon.