The Sun
the limb, close up, in 304 Å red

What you see on every new tab

The Sun fills the bottom-left of the New Tab page with a giant close-up of the solar surface. The disc is about four and a half times the size of the one in Solar Corona and its centre sits far off-screen, so a curved red edge sweeps across the frame and the top-right is left as black, starry space for the clock and search box.

The colours follow NASA SDO's 304 Å channel, deep red through orange to white-hot. There are no field lines; the edge is busy instead.

• Mottled surface: Bright network cells with dark lanes, fine fluff that boils on a timescale of seconds, and small bright points that pop up, glow for a few seconds and fade.
• Active regions: Six sunspot groups sit in a northern belt, the only latitudes this view can see, each with bright plage that pulses and fibrils fanning out.
• Spicule fringe: Short bright hairs stand all along the edge, in columns that rise and sink.
• Prominences: Arches of plasma hang above any group that reaches the edge, and three quieter ones drift slowly along the visible limb.
• Big flares: Every 40 seconds to two minutes a visible group gets a twisting white ribbon that lingers and fades over about half a minute.
• Eruptions: Roughly every one to three minutes, a prominence lets go from an on-screen part of the edge and lifts away over 14 seconds.

A single fragment shader paints everything: each pixel is tested against a sphere far bigger than the screen, and the surface, edge glow, prominences and eruptions come from layered 3D noise on that turning sphere.

What it reacts to

• Mouse: The surface under the cursor heats up and brightens. Space beyond the edge does not respond.
• Music: With music sync on, bass brightens the glow and the disc and makes the fine texture boil faster, mids brighten the network cells, and treble brightens the spicules and brings out more bright points.
• Beat: Ordinary kicks set off small flares in random groups. A very hard kick with strong bass fires a big flare in a group you can see, at most once every 20 seconds.
• Night: After dusk on Auto, or in Night mode, a dark veil of up to 60 percent deepens the red and the black.

Free or Pro?Pro

Ambient New Tab is free to install, with three free themes. The Sun is a Pro theme. Pro is $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year, cancel anytime, and it unlocks every Pro theme, music sync, and every new theme as we release it. You can preview The Sun full screen before you buy: open the Themes panel and rest your mouse on it. Changed your mind? 14-day refund, no questions.

How to get it

1. Add Ambient New Tab to Chrome (or Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi, Opera).
2. Open a new tab and click the Themes pill in the bottom-right corner.
3. Pick The Sun. Done.

Questions

Is it free?

It is a Pro theme. Pro is $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year. It unlocks every Pro theme, music sync, and every new theme as it is released. Cancel anytime.

Why is the Sun in the corner?

It is a close-up of the solar edge. The disc's centre sits beyond the bottom-left corner of the screen, so only a curved slice of the surface shows, and the top-right stays dark, which keeps the clock and search box easy to read.

What are the flares and eruptions?

A flare is a sunspot group that suddenly whitens: a bright ribbon twists through it, then fades over about thirty seconds. An eruption is a prominence that lets go of the edge, its front rising and widening for 14 seconds while thin legs trail back to the surface. Both come on their own timers, music or not.

Is The Sun just Solar Corona in red?

No. They share the same sped-up rotation, one turn every 475 seconds at the equator, but show different layers. Solar Corona is the whole gold disc with about 650 magnetic field lines. The Sun is a red close-up of the edge with no field lines, adding standing prominences, a spicule fringe and slow-fading flares.

Does it work on my phone?

No. It's a desktop browser extension for Chrome and Edge on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. If you're reading this on a phone, send yourself the link.

More themes

See every theme →