SOHO peers into the heart of Sun (credit: NASA/ESA)
Solar Interior
In the heart of the Sun, unimaginable gravitational pressures, a trillion kilos per square centimetre, squeeze hydrogen nuclei together until helium is formed, in a process known as ‘fusion’. But the mass of helium that emerges from this process is 0.7 per cent less than the mass of hydrogen that goes into it. That ‘missing’ mass is liberated as energy. In the 5,000 million years since its birth, the Sun has converted four million tons of hydrogen into energy every second, yet the amount of available hydrogen is still so great that it should be able to sustain this process for another 5,000 million years to come.
Solar Interior - Latest Articles 
When the Sun shakes
Although we can't see it without special equipment, the Sun is shaking. Bubbling motion just under the visible surface is constantly feeding in energy, and the Sun responds by vibrating like a colossa...
When a model sun starts to look like the real one
Everything we know about the hidden heart of the Sun needs to be deduced from the external clues that we can actually observe. Complex mathematical modelling is an essential aid. Researchers simulate ...
