TheSunisourstar.Here’saniceintroductionfromDr.Plait.It’sarathertypicalstar,actually.When comparedtotheEarth,weseethatastarisanentirelydifferenttypeofobjectfromaplanet.Itisahuge sphereofhydrogenandheliumgasalmostoneandonehalfmillionkmindiameter.Itisafairlytypical star,aboutaverageinallrespects.ItsspectraltypeisG2V;thatputsitrightinthemiddleoftheH-R diagram.ThevisiblesurfaceoftheSunshowsindicationsofmassivestormswhichreleaseenergyinto spaceandtowardtheEarth.WehaveaspacecraftcalledSOHOthatregularlymonitorstheSun'sweather.Withaproperly filteredtelescope,wecanseeavarietyoffeaturesonitssurface.ThisNASAvideoshowstheSuninanentirelydifferentlight, quite literally.SincewebelievetheSuntobearathertypicalstar,wecanmakesomeassumptionsofthephysicaldetailsofmostother stars.Forinstance,wearecertainthatotherstarshave‘starspots’.Weseeotherfeaturesonthesurfaceofourstarwhich must be similar to those seen on other stars.