Solar physicist

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A solar physicist is a type of astrophysicist who studies primarily the Sun. Because the Sun is uniquely situated for close-range observing (other stars cannot be resolved with anything like the spatial or temporal resolution that the Sun can), there is a split between the related discipline of observational astrophysics (of distant stars) and observational solar physics. The Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society boasts about 600 members (in 2008), compared to several thousand in the parent organization.

Solar physics spans several science disciplines, including visible and ultraviolet observation, spectroscopy, plasma physics (both MHD and particle-kinematic), space physics, helioseismology, stellar evolution theory, and (to a limited degree) nuclear physics.