Most stars are too faint to suit astronomers, but the sun is too bright. Astronomers have been able to analyze the sun's light and photograph the spots that cruise in mysterious cycles across its face. But until recently, their observations have been limited mostly to the brilliant surface itself. Except during total eclipses, the details of the sun's atmosphere have been lost in its glare.
In a new book, Our Sun (Blakiston; $4.50), Dr. Donald H. Menzel of Harvard tells how new and refined instruments have opened the sun to astronomers' prying eyes. There is plenty of action to watch, for...