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Helio and You

This article series for educators aims to engage learners of all ages with the exciting world of solar science. Our goal is to help educators inspire students by connecting informal and classroom learning to real NASA events, mission launches, and historic heliophysics milestones.

Quick Facts

Use these articles to inspire learners and find more resources that cultivate learning and engagement with heliophysics.

Use these articles to inspire learners and find more resources that cultivate learning and engagement with heliophysics.

Bring NASA into Your Classroom! The articles found below are organized by their year of release, with the most recent editions to the left and older editions to the right.

Bring NASA into Your Classroom! The articles found below are organized by their year of release, with the most recent editions to the left and older editions to the right.

Past topics offer diverse learning opportunities for students, including the application of heliophysics to Lunar missions like Artemis and Apollo and the relationship between studying comets and understanding the Sun.

Past topics offer diverse learning opportunities for students, including the application of heliophysics to Lunar missions like Artemis and Apollo and the relationship between studying comets and understanding the Sun.
july 2026

Heliophysics as an American Endeavor

Heliophysics is an important cornerstone of the history of astronomy, and many of the pioneers in this field have been American. This article examines a bit of this history in depth, from the early days of studying sunspots to the modern fleet of space missions dedicated to studying the Sun-Earth system.

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This is image is of the 200-inch Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory, located in north San Diego County, California which is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology.
The 200-inch telescope at Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California is one of the most tangible legacies of George Ellery Hale, an early 20th century American astronomer who helped pioneer the field of heliophysics.
Credit: Caltech/Palomar Observatory

Past Topics

Browse NASA's previously published articles exploring the Sun, space weather, and their effects on Earth and the solar system, featuring current science topics and a list of relevant classroom and event-ready resources.

The northern lights were seen over Alaska the night of Feb. 16, 2017 at the the Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks. Credit: NASA/Terry Zaperach

June 2026: Learning About the Sun in the Far North

This article explores some of the ways that the extreme Alaskan environment lends itself to heliophysics research. Connected to educational resources that help K-12+ teachers explain polar weather and related concepts in simple, engaging ways for students.

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NASA's Mars Global Surveyor shows that although dust storms occur year-round on Mars, they often occur in greater numbers during certain seasons.

May 2026: Seasons on Earth, Mars, and Beyond

This article explores the relationship between stars and the seasons experienced by the planets which orbit them. Connected to educational resources that help K-12+ teachers explain seasonal changes and related science concepts in simple, engaging ways for students.

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An image shows a circular view of the sky, colored gold, around the Sun. A black circular disk blocks the Sun at the center, but a small yellow circle shows the size and location of the Sun within the black disk. Near the top, a bulb-shaped cloud, a coronal mass ejection, extends upward from the Sun.

April 2026: The Sun, Solar Wind, and Earth as a Connected System

This article explains the PUNCH mission, which studies the relationship between the Sun and the heliosphere. Connected to resources that help K-12+ teachers explain heliospheric concepts in simple, engaging ways for students.

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At the center of the image is a comet that appears as a teardrop-shaped bluish cocoon of dust coming off the comet’s solid, icy nucleus and seen against a black background. The comet appears to be heading to the bottom left corner of the image. About a dozen short, light blue diagonal streaks are seen scattered across the image, which are from background stars that appeared to move during the exposure because the telescope was tracking the moving comet.

December 2025: Comets, the Sun, and You

This article explores the ways that studying comets can teach us more about the Sun and Space Weather in general. Connected to educational resources that help K-12+ teachers explain solar wind and related space science concepts in simple, engaging ways for students.

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A standing woman explains a hand-drawn arts and crafts version of the Sun to a classroom filled with seated people who are all turned to face her.

September 2025: The Sun and Our Lives

This article shows the unique connections between heliophysics and our everyday lives, and how NASA explains them to the public. Connected to educational resources that help K-12+ teachers explain heliophysics education in simple, engaging ways for students.

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An illustration of two astronauts working on the Moon

August 2025: The Moon as a Laboratory

This article shows how studying the Sun can and has supported Lunar exploration, and vice versa. Connected to educational resources that help K-12+ teachers explain the link between Planetary Science and Heliophysics in simple, engaging ways for students.

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NASA's Parker Solar Probe - with its heat shield facing forward and twin solar panels partially extended - flies through particles in space.

July 2025: Two Stars in Solar Science

This article explores how the Parker Solar Probe & Solar Orbiter work together to learn about the Sun. Connected to educational resources that help K-12+ teachers explain how multinational space missions can teach us about the Sun in simple, engaging ways for students.

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A grayscale top-down image of the North Pole showing the glowing band of the Northern Lights circling the Earth

May 2025: The Sun and the Light Shows It Creates

This article uses the May 2024 solar storms as a jumping off point to explain how the Sun causes the beautiful auroras we admire on Earth. Connected to resources that help K-12+ teachers explain this part of the Earth-Sun relationship in simple, engaging ways for students.

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Coming Soon to "Helio and You"

Planet orbiting a binary system
A gas giant planet looms in the foreground at right, illuminated by a pair of stars, in this artist’s concept of a world in a binary system. Earth isn't the only planet in the universe which experiences eclipses. Other planets orbiting our Sun would experience them, too, as would planets around other stars.
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)

In the August 2026 edition of "Helio and You," we will explore eclipses on other planets. Many people have experienced a solar eclipse here on Earth, but someday it might be possible to see them on other planets, too. What would it look like to see an eclipse on Mars, or Jupiter, or Saturn? This article goes in-depth on the topic.

Framework for Heliophysics Education

Heliophysics Resource Database

Find related educational and outreach resources in our database.

Resource Database
In this animated GIF, a small portion of the Sun appears green. A bright white flash suddenly appears on the edge of the Sun.
On Nov. 4, 2003, this solar flare saturated the X-ray detectors on several Sun-observing spacecraft.
Credit: NASA/ESA/SOHO