What does a solar physicist do?
The short answer is that solar physicists study the physics of the sun and/or teach the subject to students. But there are many different ways that this is done. Some use computer programs and math to try to understand how the Sun makes all the interesting things we see and to predict what will happen in the future. Predicting flares and other types of solar storms is especially interesting because these can affect satellites and people in space. Others observe the Sun using telescopes on the Earth or satellites. Often this means spending a lot of time designing and building the instruments and spacecraft before being able to use them. We are always trying to get better/sharper pictures and more accurate measurements. Building state-of-the-art instruments and satellites and using them can be very rewarding and exciting, sometimes too exciting when something goes wrong or you find that the money has run out. But the best parts are seeing something that no one has ever seen before and pe
