The sun news, features and articles

On Oct. 2, a partial "ring of fire" solar eclipse was visible from the remote island of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, where around 1,000 stone moai statues stand. You can see the whole celestial event play out in this incredible composite image.

The Oct. 2 partial solar eclipse, known as an annular or "ring of fire" eclipse, is about to begin over Easter Island and South America. Watch it for free right here.

The sun just unleashed one of its largest solar explosions in recent years, temporarily causing a radio blackout on Earth and spitting out a coronal mass ejection that will likely collide with our planet this weekend.

Using a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, it might be possible to use the sun as a gigantic telescope to peer deep into space.

Vibrant auroras could be visible as far south as Oregon and Pennsylvania tonight as Earth reels from a "strong" G3-class geomagnetic storm. However, the nearly full Harvest Moon may complicate viewing opportunities.

On Sunday, Sept. 22, day and night will be nearly equal in length as Earth spins side-on to the sun and autumn officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere.

September could be a prime time to see vibrant auroras, thanks to a quirk of Earth's tilt that leads to more intense geomagnetic activity around the equinox.

A flowery passage in a 6,000-year-old Hindu text may be the earliest known reference to a solar eclipse, describing the sun as being "pierced" with darkness and gloom and proposing that evil beings had caused the sun's "magic arts to vanish."

The average number of visible dark patches on the sun's surface in August was higher than any other month since September 2001. The final count was more than twice as high as experts initially predicted it would be.

Last year, Earth spewed charged particles into the sun in a rare cosmic event that has surprised scientists.