Spark and Perl go looking

How the Sun looks up close

I packed sunglasses.
Six pairs.
Do not even try! Those six will not protect your eyes.
Use these glasses instead, the ones with silver foil. They work. Just check there is no hole in the foil.
Is it a really big campfire?
It is a ball of glowing gas.
You could pour a million Earths into it and still have room.
Can I go a tiny bit closer?
No.
I shall stand on the edge and wave, then.
There is no edge.
…It is gas all the way through.
Nothing to stand on. And I would not want to — I would boil away.
Glowing gas. All the way through.
At the edge the gas cools. That part is colder.
In the middle, in the core, there is thermonuclear fusion.
Hydrogen turns into helium. That is what lets out the heat that gives us life.

Can we see the Sun from home?
Yes.
High in summer, low in winter — and highest at midday.
Every single day — and never look straight at it.
Where to find the Sun, and when
What the shading meansClose
Where the Earth is clear, it climbs high in the sky. The darker it gets, the lower it stays. Where it is black, it never comes up. No shading at all: it does not matter where you live.
What do I need to see the Sun?
Never look straight at it — not ever. Make a small hole in a piece of card, let the sunlight through it onto a second card, and look at THAT. The round spot is the Sun.
Or a grown-up can fit a proper Sun filter on the front of a telescope and hold it steady while you look through.
The picture here is what that telescope shows: the Sun about 80 times bigger than your own eyes see it.

Never with unprotected eyes

Only through a filter made for looking at the Sun. Check it for damage every single time. Safer still, and no filter needed: make a small hole in a piece of card, hold it up in the sunlight, and look at the bright little disc it throws onto a second card. That disc is the Sun. Look at the card, never at the sky.

The full rules

The Sun can burn the back of your eye for good. It does not hurt while it happens. So there is no warning to react to. An adult must be in charge of this.

Only ever use a filter made for looking at the Sun. Eclipse glasses marked ISO 12312-2. Or a proper solar filter that fits over the front of a telescope or binoculars.
Check the filter every single time before you use it. Hold it up to a bright lamp. Look at the filter itself, not through it at something else. Can you see any scratch, pinhole, crease, bubble or peeling edge? Can you see the lamp through it clearly? Then throw it away. A damaged filter is worse than no filter at all. It feels comfortable while it lets the harmful light through.
Never use sunglasses, smoked glass, exposed camera film, a CD, or several pairs of sunglasses stacked up. None of them stop the light you cannot see. That is the light that does the damage.
Never put a filter on the eyepiece end of a telescope. The telescope focuses the Sun’s heat straight onto it. It can crack with no warning, while your eye is already there.
The little finder scope on the side needs capping too. It is a burning glass pointed at the same Sun.
Safest of all, and rather good fun: do not look at the Sun at all. Poke a small hole in a piece of card. Hold it up in the sunshine. It throws a little image of the Sun onto a second card in the shade. The gaps between leaves on a tree do the same thing. During an eclipse the ground under a tree is covered in dozens of tiny crescents.

Space

Could you stand on a planet or moon?Eyes, binoculars, or telescope?Which one does not belong?

Sun — what you see

Read on Go and look

How the Sun looks up close

Can we see the Sun from home?