It is important to us here on Earth to study the Sun for a variety of reasons, including potential solar storms that can affect communication satellites in orbit as well as pilots flying planes close to the magnetic poles of Earth. The better the solar weather is understood, the more that can be done to improve technology to withstand these threats.

The Sun can also provide scientists with an extremely high temperature laboratory to “run” experiments and make observations. This can improve understanding of how man-made materials will behave under conditions not encountered here on Earth, so that goals in space exploration can be pursued and met.