One field of study in astronomy is to determine how objects are composed (the stuff they're made of). Of special interest is the composition of their atmosphere, not only for planets and moons in the solar system, but also for exoplanets. How is that possible?
When elements are exited (for instance by being hit by photons) they emit radiation, but only at certain wavelengths. We see that if we study the spectrum. Turns out that different elements have their own signature, and thus can be identified by analyzing the spectrum. A practical example of this is the sodium vapor lamp, which emits yellow light a 589 nm wavelength.
The spectroscope was invented in 1859. In 1868, while analyzing light from the solar corona (during a solar eclipse) they found a bright yellow (wavelength 587.49) emission line. Initially thought to represent sodium, but later deciding it didn't correspond to any known substance, and a new element was proposed. They suggested the name "Helium" after "Helios", the greek word for the sun. Helium was first discovered chemically nearly 30 years later.
A year after they noticed another unknown very intense 530.3 nm (green) spectral line. It's so intense that even without a spectroscope, the corona has a greenish tint (see image below). Once again a new element was proposed, given the name Coronium (after the corona). In 1902 it was suggested (by the father of the periodic table, Dmitri Mendeleev) that said Coroniuy might be an element lighter than Hydrogen. Fast forward to 1930 when it was finally determined that this wasn't a new element, in stead the spectral line represented highly ionized iron atoms (Fe13+), which means it has given up 13 electrons. This can only occur at very high temperatures, above 1 million K.
However, this poses a problem. The surface (photosphere) temperature of the sun is around 5000 K. How is it possible that the atmosphere is so much higher (one estimate is that locally it may be up to 20 million K)? There's still no complete explanation for this. One contributing factor is magnetism, another may be the presence of completely ionized helium which is thought to reduce loss of heat from radiation.
pibbuR who regrets that there now are no unknown elements, his only chance at having an element named after him is the artificial synthesis of element number 119 provisionnally named ununennium. Unfortunately, according to Wikipedia "
Theoretical and experimental evidence has shown that the synthesis of ununennium will likely be far more difficult than that of the previous elements."
PS. Synthesis of element 118 Oganesson is difficult enough as as far as I know still no more than 5 (possibly 6) very short lived atoms are produced. DS.