YoumightbelievethatyouknowourSunwell,butyouwouldbeinforapleasantsurpriseifyoucouldseeitwith differenteyes.ThisNASAvideoshowstheSuninanentirelydifferentlight,quiteliterally.Here’sanice introductionfromDr.Plait.It’sarathertypicalstar,actually.WhencomparedtotheEarth,weseethatastarisan entirelydifferenttypeofobjectfromaplanet.Itisahugesphereofhydrogenandheliumgasalmostoneandone halfmillionkmindiameter.Itisafairlytypicalstar,aboutaverageinallrespects.ItsspectraltypeisG2V;thatputs itrightinthemiddleoftheH-Rdiagram.ThevisiblesurfaceoftheSunshowsindicationsofmassivestormswhichweseeinthiscaptivating video.ThesestormsreleaseenergyintospaceandtowardtheEarth.WehaveaspacecraftcalledSOHOthatregularlymonitorstheSun's weather. SincewebelievetheSuntobearathertypicalstar,wecanmakesomeassumptionsofthephysicaldetailsofmostotherstars.For instance,wearecertainthatotherstarshave‘starspots’.Weseeotherfeaturesonthesurfaceofourstarwhichmustbesimilartothoseseen on other stars. With a properly filtered telescope, we can see a variety of these features on its surface. HereisanexcellentdocumentaryontheSun.It’s49minuteslong,sowewillplayitat1.25timesnormalspeedsothatitfitsinaforty minute period.