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News - public release Created on 05 Nov 2026 Harvard University
You might see the sun in a whole new light after taking this quiz based on astrophysicist’s new book
Science & Tech Nice yellow ball in the sky? Not quite.
Illustrations by Liz Zonarich/Harvard Staff
Sy Boles
Harvard Staff Writer
November 5, 2026 1 min read You might see the sun in a whole new light after taking this quiz based on astrophysicist’s new bookThe sun, our ever-reliable source of light and heat energy, often gets flattened out from our perspective on Earth as that nice yellow ball in the sky. But in his new book, “The Turbulent Sun: A Natural History of Our Cosmic Origins and Future,” Leon Golub, Harvard-affiliated Smithsonian Scientist Emeritus, paints a much more detailed — and frightening — picture of our closest star. Golub helped us develop the following quiz based on his research.
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1. What powers the sun?
Nuclear fusion
Chemical combustion
Gravitational contraction
Radioactive decay
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2. True or false: The entire sun rotates at a steady speed.
True
False
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3. How big is the heliosphere, the “bubble” of space influenced by solar weather?
It ends in the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter
It extends as far as Neptune
It’s about 119 astronomical units, or 119 times the distance between the Earth and the sun
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4. Large space weather events or magnetic storms, brief disruptions in the stability of Earth’s magnetic north, correspond to what solar phenomenon?
Solar cooling
Coronal mass ejections
Solar flares
Solar eclipses
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5. Particles from the sun’s radiation trapped in the Earth’s gravitational field extend how far above the planet’s surface?
620 miles
7,000 miles
40,000 miles
70,000 miles
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6. The earth’s magnetosphere protects us from the worst of which impacts of geomagnetic storms?
Satellite disruptions
Power-grid outages
Radio interference
All of the above
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7. Our sun is gradually becoming …
Cooler and dimmer
Hotter and brighter
Previous Submit
Δ
Sydney Boles
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