This is NASA's curious universe.

Our universe is a wild and wonderful place.

I'm your host, Patty Boyd.

And I'm your co-host, Jacob Pinner.

And in this podcast, NASA is your tour guide.

From here on Earth, the sun can seem a little boring, or at least predictable.

It's a big, docile yellow ball up in the sky.

It rises and sets every day right on schedule.

Well, we're here to make you see the sun in a whole new way.

If you zoom in closer, our nearest star is an incredibly dynamic place, full of swirling magnetic fields

and explosions of plasma that rocket out into space in all directions.

And right now, in 2024, the sun is near solar maximum, which means it's at its most active

and stormy, sending explosions of space weather towards Earth that can disrupt the

technology that we take for granted, both up in space and right here on the ground.

This year, the sun is making sure we know it's the star of our solar system. So we're bringing

you something special in its honor. A five-part Curious Universe miniseries about all things solar.

For the next five weeks, we'll be bringing you the stories of daring NASA missions like Parker

Solar Probe. Lift-off of the mighty Delta 4 heavy rocket with NASA's Parker Solar Probe,

which is overcoming incredible odds to touch the sun and unravel some of its biggest mysteries.

You'll meet people obsessed with auroras and eclipses,

voyaging across the world, braving icy blizzards and baking hot deserts

to catch fleeting glimpses of our sun's power right here on Earth.

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