VISUAL ARCHIVE / IMAGE STORY
Where the Sun’s Energy Begins
Hydrogen fusion supplies energy in a core hidden from direct sight.
An artistic interpretation of the solar core, where hydrogen fusion supplies the energy that eventually emerges as sunlight. AI-generated illustration; the core cannot be photographed directly.
THE OBSERVATION
What we can actually see.
Solar structure models and helioseismology constrain the core, while neutrinos provide an additional way to study fusion processes. Energy then changes form and travels through the star before sunlight is emitted at the surface.
THE ILLUSTRATION
What the artwork imagines.
The blazing chamber and visible reactions are imagined. No camera reaches the core, and the light in the picture is not an unbroken beam arriving at Earth.
FROM THE ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE
The story that inspired it.
The article separates the slow transport of energy through the Sun from the later outward flight of light and plasma. Hydrogen fusion supplies energy in a core hidden from direct sight.
Read The Sun Is a Prison for Its Own LightCHECK THE RECORD
The image interprets the research below. Follow the original work for the measurements and limits behind the scene.
NASA: the solar interiorOTHER IMAGE STORIES
The Slow Escape of Solar Energy
Earth Inside the Sun’s Reach
The Mark Shared by Titan and Pluto