This week, Stephen and Jason answer some burning questions about the sun.

This episode of Liftoff is sponsored by:

• Luminos: A fantastic astronomy app, 10 years in the making! Now with an Apple Watch app for skygazing!
• The Freelancer’s Guide to Escaping Taxes, by Andrew Carroll

Links and Show Notes

image via NASA

The Incomparable | Let's Hear It for Botanists (Episode 268)

GROUND CONTROL (APOLLO ARCHIVE) 4K - YouTube

NASA projects related to The Martian, complied by Liftoff listener Andrew

NASA TechPort - Home Page

Weird star: Strange dips in brightness are a bit baffling.

Dyson sphere - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Search For Extraterrestrial Civilizations With Large Energy Supplies (PDF)

New Horizons: First Pluto journal paper discusses dwarf planet's origins - BBC News

The Pluto system: Initial results from its exploration by New Horizons

DSCOVR: Daily pictures of the Earth from space.

DSCOVR::EPIC::Earth Polychromatic Camera

Image: The sun

Image: The sun's zones

Total Solar Eclipse - 14th November 2012 - philhart

They Might Be Giants - Why Does the Sun Really Shine? (The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma) - YouTube

The Sunspot Cycle - NASA/Marshall Solar Physics

Image: Raining loops of plasma

March 1989 geomagnetic storm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

TMBG-Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass of Incandescent Gas) original version lyrics - YouTube