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Preface -- Chapter 1: A Star Among Billions -- Chapter 2: The Sun's Location in the Solar System -- Chapter 3: The Structure of the Sun -- Chapter 4: How Do We Study the Sun?.-Chapter 5: The Sun - A Variable Star -- Chapter 6: The Northern Lights and Space Weather/- Chapter 7: The Sun and Life on Earth -- Chapter 8: How Humans Depend on the Sun -- Chapter 9: How You Can Study the Sun and the Aurora -- Chapter 10: Modern Research on the Sun, the Northern Lights, and Space Weather -- Useful Resources.

The center of our Solar System is a star, one among billions of stars in our own galaxy. This star, which we call the Sun, gives rise to all life on Earth, is the driver of the photosynthesis in plants, and is the source of all food, energy, and fossil fuels on Earth. For us humans, the Sun as seen with the naked eye appears as a static and quiet yellow disk in the sky. However, it is in fact a stormy and variable star and contributes much more than only light and heat. It is the source of the beautiful northern and southern lights and can affect our technology-based society in many ways. The Sun is, like astronomy in general, a good entrance to natural science, since it affects us in so many ways and connects us to many other fields of science, such as physics, chemistry, biology, and meteorology. The book includes additional material on Springer Extras, a large number of animations and video material. A PowerPoint presentation of the book is also included there as a useful resource for teachers.