Now in the early 21st century, we know that the Sun is a star, composed mostly of hydrogen, at the center of the Solar System, and with planets orbiting around it. But ancient people didn’t have access to the same tools we have today. Their understanding about the Sun was far more concerned with the day-to-day needs of living. As such, their notions have influenced the way we (still) think of the Sun. Almost all life on Earth evolved with the Sun as a major influence. The rising and setting Sun defined the daily cycle we still respond to biologically. Ancient peoples were extremely dependent on the Sun for light; only the light from a full Moon gave any way to see in the night, and it wasn’t until the discovery of fire that humans had a reliable way to see after the Sun went down. Its apparent movement in the sky provided clues on when to plant and harvest crops and gave us the concept of the year. The Sun was such an essential object that many ancient people treated it with reverence and considered the Sun a god. Many worshipped it and built monuments to celebrate it, such as Stonehenge in England. The first accurate measurement of the distance to the Sun was made by the Greek philosopher Anaxagoras around 450 BC, and people continued to think that the Sun orbited the Earth for long after that. In 1453 AD Nicolaus Copernicus proposed a Sun-centered solar system. This theory gained support from Galileo and other astronomers by 1700 AD. By the mid-1800s, solar astronomy had advanced to the point where astronomers were carefully tracking sunspots and measuring absorption lines in the spectrum of the Sun. However, it was not until the 1920s and 1930s when the concept of nuclear fusion was well enough understood, to explain how the Sun could generate the enormous amounts of energy that emanates from it. This book seeks to briefly outline our current knowledge of how the Sun works and how it affects the day-to-day workings of our technologically saturated world. Just as it did our ancestors, the Sun captivates us, and our study of it continues to reveal details that broaden our understanding of our solar system and the universe we live in.

Almost all life on Earth evolved with the Sun as a major influence. The rising and setting Sun defined the daily cycle we still respond to biologically. Ancient peoples were extremely dependent on the Sun for light; only the light from a full Moon gave any way to see in the night, and it wasn’t until the discovery of fire that humans had a reliable way to see after the Sun went down. Its apparent movement in the sky provided clues on when to plant and harvest crops and gave us the concept of the year. The Sun was such an essential object that many ancient people treated it with reverence and considered the Sun a god. Many worshipped it and built monuments to celebrate it, such as Stonehenge in England.

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