Lucie Green

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15 Million Degrees

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A bright prism of a book that casts light on the whole of physics. Fascinating and eye-opening

This is a fabulous introduction to our home star, written with an insider's insight and an enthusiasm that makes it very approachable. The physics is beautifully woven in with the human story - what do you do when faced with the challenge of studying something that is 150 million km away? How can you learn anything about a ball of mass and energy that's too hot to visit? But humans have overcome at least some of those challenges to discover that there's far more to the Sun than you might suspect. And the best thing about it all, as Lucie makes clear at the end, is that the journey continues and the best may be yet to come

Helen Czerski, author of 'The Storm in a Teacup'

Wonderful...makes you simply gaze out of the window pondering for a while. As with all the best popular science writing, Green has the ability to draw out a sense of wonder in the fundamental processes behind everyday experiences. The future of solar science is bright, and Lucie Green an inspiring guide

This book takes a fascinating look at a literally brilliant subject ... Lucie Green is a world authority on solar physics with a gift for communicating space science. This is not a dry physics textbook. The history and excitement of discovery, such as how astronomers found out what the sun is made of, are brought to life through human stories about the characters involved. Throughout, Green's friendly and fluid writing style makes this one of the most enjoyable books about science you could hope to find

Book of the Month - BBC Sky at Night Magazine

Thrilling ... Lucie Green's huge enthusiasm for the Sun is apparent throughout

Green, a solar physicist at University College London, is an engaging and careful companion. She is clearly enamoured of her subject and keen to acknowledge those who have gone before her ... Reading this book confirms what I felt as a student: that truly understanding the Sun is as much about philosophy as it is about physics

Green's enthusiasm for her subject is infectious ... [a] fine book

The author's passionate enthusiasm for her subject shines through on every page ... an outstanding and eminently readable book which conveys a remarkably comprehensive and wide-ranging account of our nearest star

Her touch is light; her sense of wonder infectious

A Journey to the Centre of the Sun

110 times wider than Earth; 15 million degrees at its core; an atmosphere so huge that Earth is actually within it: come and meet the star of our solar system 
 
Light takes eight minutes to reach Earth from the surface of the Sun. But its journey within the Sun takes hundreds of thousands of years. 
 
What is going on in there? What are light and heat? How does the Sun produce them and how on earth did scientists discover this? 
 
In this astonishing and enlightening adventure, you'll travel millions of miles from inside the Sun to its surface and to Earth, where the light at the end of its journey is allowing you to read right now. You'll discover how the Sun works (including what it sounds like), the latest research in solar physics and how a solar storm could threaten everything we know. And you'll meet the groundbreaking scientists who pieced this extraordinary story together.

15 million degrees at its core; 110 times wider than Earth; an atmosphere so huge that Earth is actually within it: let Dr Lucie Green introduce you to the star of our solar system 
 
Light takes eight minutes to reach Earth from the surface of the Sun. But its journey within the Sun takes hundreds of thousands of years. What is going on in there? What are light and heat? How does the Sun produce them and how on earth did scientists discover this? 
 
In this astonishing and enlightening adventure, you'll travel millions of miles from inside the Sun to its surface and to Earth, where the light at the end of its journey is allowing you to read right now. You'll discover how the Sun produces the most violent explosions in the solar system, the latest research in solar physics and how solar storms threaten us through their potential impact on satellite technology. Along the way you'll meet the trailblazing scientists, including the author, who pieced this extraordinary story together, from Edmond Halley and the first citizen science project to the ship's doctor who discovered how energy is transported and the scientists who contended with a nuclear detonation. 
 
Covering thousands of years of discoveries with the naked eye, hundreds of years with telescopes and decades of observations from space, Lucie Green will make you see the whole universe differently and will explain how we can see anything at all in the first place!

Professor Lucie Green is a solar physicist at UCL's Mullard Space Science Laboratory and regularly appears on the BBC's Star Gazing Live with Brian Cox, the Today programme, The Infinite Monkey Cage and Sky at Night. She works with the world's major space agencies (including NASA), and speaks regularly at the Royal Society and Cheltenham Science Festival. In 2009 she won the Royal Society's Kohn Award for her work promoting public engagement with science.

Light takes just eight minutes to reach Earth from the surface of the Sun - but its journey within the Sun takes hundreds of thousands of years. What is going on in there? How does the Sun produce light and heat - and how on earth did scientists find out? 
 
In this astonishing and enlightening adventure, you'll travel millions of miles from inside the Sun to its surface and to Earth, on the way discovering the latest research in solar physics, learning how the sun works and meeting the ground-breaking scientists who pieced this extraordinary story together.

15 Million Degrees

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Lucie Green

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