In 2004, NASA's Genesis spacecraft returned samples of the solar wind to Earth for study.

Helioseismology, a term coined by Douglas Gough, is the study of the structure and dynamics of the Sun through its oscillations. The modern field is separated into global helioseismology, which studies the Sun's resonant modes, and local helioseismology, which studies all the waves propagating at the Sun's surface.

Sunspots have two parts: the central umbra, which is the darkest part, where the magnetic field is approximately vertical (normal to the Sun's surface) and the surrounding penumbra, which is lighter, where the magnetic field is more inclined.

Our sun is around 24,000-26,000 light-years from the galactic center and it takes approximately 225-250 million years to complete one orbit of the center of the Milky Way.

Spicules last for about 15 minutes and are usually associated with regions of high magnetic flux.

The Romans called their sun god "Sol", and later "Sol Invictus". Sol was also the name of sun gods in Norse and Germanic mythology, among others.