What if I told you scientists discovered something on the SUN before they found it on our own planet?

The Day Helium Was Found in the Sun!

How scientists discovered a super cool gas hiding 93 million miles away

Scientists found helium on the Sun during an eclipse before anyone found it on Earth!

Picture this: It's August 18, 1868, and a total solar eclipse is happening over India. Scientists from around the world have traveled there with their telescopes, ready to study the Sun when the Moon blocks its blinding light.

One of these curious scientists was a French astronomer named Pierre Janssen. He pointed his special instrument called a spectroscope at the Sun's glowing edge. A spectroscope splits light into rainbow colors, kind of like a prism!

But wait — Janssen spotted something WEIRD. There was a bright yellow line that didn't match any element known on Earth. What could it be?

Across the world, an English scientist named Joseph Norman Lockyer saw the same mysterious yellow line. He was so excited that he named this unknown substance "helium" after Helios, the Greek god of the Sun!

💡 Helium is so light that if you release a helium balloon, it will float up and eventually escape Earth's atmosphere into space!