Viewing the core of the sun
The sun is a central feature to the human experience. It is found in many familiar idioms like “nothing new under the sun.” It defines our days, makes our planet habitable, and is the ultimate origin of your last meal. Yet how do we understand how it works? Over the last century or so, astronomers have learned a great deal about our sun by observing its outer layers.This has led to significant progress in envisioning the processes that power it, while still leaving the full picture incomplete. Recent exciting measurements of subatomic particles called neutrino shave given us our first detailed view of the dominant nuclear processes inside its core. These observations have provided a detailed view of the phenomena that generate the sun’s energy. But, before I describe these fascinating new measurements, it is perhaps valuable to set the stage.