Astronomers wouldn’t be caught dead scavenging through the interior of the Sun. Our star might usually be our best friend, as it provides us heat, energy, oxygen, and food every day, but it won’t sit on the fence when it comes to showing its dark side once we get too close to it. The Sun’s interior is so hot that it reaches millions of degrees Celsius.
But who knows what exciting secrets of our Solar System astronomers would uncover if they somehow find a way to probe the interior of our Sun? While physically going there is out of the question, why not try to probe the star in other ways, such as sending powerful robots there that are capable of withstanding the tremendous heat? But there might be an even more ingenious way to study our star than that.
Probing the Sun’s interior using gravitational waves from pulsars?
According to Universe Today, astronomers might use gravitational waves from pulsars as a method to probe the interior of our Sun. Scientists might be able to determine the density profile of our star by measuring the lensing of gravitational waves as they pass through the Sun. The accuracy that scientists expect is 3 sigma.
Gravitational waves are even able to pass through matter, which is a feature that light waves, for instance, don’t have. The trait could allow astronomers to exploit gravitational waves in order to explore the interior of stars such as our Sun.
The Sun has been around for over 4 billion years, just in case you feel too old already. While the interior of our Sun is scorching hot, the surface is a bit cooler, as it reaches “only” 5,499 degrees Celsius.
One thing’s for sure: astronomers need to sit tight when it comes to any idea of physically going to the Sun. Even using any spacesuit, no human being can withstand the insanely high temperatures that exist even at the surface of our star.
