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The Sun: Living With Our Star

Through fun hands-on experiences, unique objects, and stunning imagery, this exhibition allowed visitors to discover the incredible story of our closest star—the Sun.

Set at the centre of our solar system, the Sun’s brilliant light shapes our sense of time, our health and our environment. People have tried to harness its power and uncover its secrets since the dawn of civilisation.

From 3,000-year-old artefacts to upcoming space missions and even a nuclear fusion reactor, this exhibition took visitors on a visual, action-packed journey that explored the fascinating story of humankind’s relationship with our closest star.

Watch four films which describe our relationship with the Sun

Highlights

Two children looking at images of the Sun at different wavelengths in the Sun exhibition at the Science Museum

See how the Sun appears at different wavelengths

Two children looking at an exhibit in the Sun exhibition at the Science Museum

Discover how we have depicted the Sun over time

'Mundus Subterraneus' by Athanasius Kircher—one of the first books to argue that the Sun was a fiery world.

'Mundus Subterraneus' by Athanasius Kircher—one of the first books to argue that the Sun was a fiery world.

A small child looks at a screen showing the Sun's surface in the Sun exhibition at the Science Museum

Experience the Sun as you’ve never see it before with close-up views of the star’s surface

A detail of an 18th-century French clock in the Sun exhibition at the Science Museum in London

This 19th-century French clock is topped with a model of the Sun, Earth and Moon.

Two visitors at an interactive exhibit in the Sun exhibition

Can you use “solar power” to light up our tower?

A visitor looks at the sunrise interactive in the Sun exhibition

See the Sun rise around the world on a huge illuminated display

A visitor looks at a nuclear fusion device in the Sun exhibition

This nuclear fusion device, from Tokamak Energy Ltd, is an example of one of many projects that are attempting to generate clean energy

See also:

Header image: © NASA’s Goddard Space Flight CenterSDOS. Wiessinger

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Media Partner

With additional support from

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

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