Secrets of the Sun with Dara Ó Briain - Season 1

Dara starts in the Lone Star state, Texas and is extremely excited, going to watch one of the rarest of solar events, a total eclipse. We join him – and thousands of others as they gather to share this amazing experience.

After he's taken in the eclipse, Dara meets astronomer, Professor Stella Offner, whose research focuses on understanding how stars like the Sun form. Stella explains how the Sun was created and just how ferociously powerful our star is – but that without it there wouldn't be life on Earth.

At Kew Gardens we meet molecular biologist Dr Caspar Chater, who reveals how energy from the Sun was harnessed by early life forms, allowing them to evolve into the species we see today and how their actions transformed the planet – ultimately making it suitable for humans.

For thousands of years humanity has worshipped the Sun – our ancestors even built monuments like Stonehenge to use it – and Dara next meets today's modern equivalents - a family who live and farm totally off-grid relying on the Sun's energy for all their power needs.

Although we have to be careful not to get sunburnt, the Sun is vital for human health. Dara visits a couple in Kent who have taken this to – some would say – the extreme, and meets medical doctor Professor Richard Weller, who explains just how important sunlight is to people.

For decades we've been using solar panels to harness the Sun's clean energy – but the real dream is to copy the way the Sun works – fusion – and build a fusion reactor on earth. Dara visits ITER, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in the South of France to meet the engineers and scientists doing just that.

While the Sun is critical to life, looks can also be deceiving. In this episode Dara is going to explore how our solar system's star has a darker side.

Dara's journey takes him to Space City, Houston. Here he meets ex-NASA astronaut Colonel Terry Virts a former commander on board the Space Shuttle. Terry got skin cancer because of the Sun and explains that monitoring the Sun's energy is extremely important to astronauts.

In Houston, Dara is invited to the central hub of NASA, the Johnson Space Centre to meet the scientists behind the Space Radiation Analysis Group. This is where NASA monitors solar flares, ejections from the Sun that can head towards the earth. They also discuss the so-called ‘Bermuda Triangle of Space' – the South Atlantic Anomaly – an area in space the Sun makes so dangerous that satellites and even the International Space Station need to power down when travelling through it.

Monitoring the Sun is critical, and Dara next explains that there are numerous missions from many countries across the world sending spacecraft to study the Sun at close quarters.

Dara's journey ends in the South of France, where he witnesses the Sun's extraordinary power first hand, at the world's largest solar furnace. Here, solar power is concentrated in huge amounts in order to generate power, and astrophysicist Dr Orlagh Creevey reveals how there's so much power generated it can vapourise rock.

Orlagh reveals this is actually much like how the story of our Sun will end. Our star will turn into a ‘Red Giant' and completely engulf the Earth. There is absolutely nothing we can do about this – it is the natural life cycle of a star. The Sun – the giver of life – will one day destroy us.