The chromosphere is 2000-3000 km thick and the temperature rises from around 6000k to 20,000K. The photosphere is one of the coolest regions of the Sun (about 6000 K), and it is here that we can see the granulation caused by theīubbling gas in the convection layer and the sunspots caused by strong magnetic fields. Sunlight as we know it - the visible white light, is emitted from the photosphere. Manifest themselves as the granulation we can see in white light and H-Alpha. It seems that largest currents of gas and heat generate myriad smaller ones and these In this way rolling currents of hot and cold gas create aĬhurning motion that carries heat from the bottom to the top. When it becomesĬooler that its surroundings, the gas sinks to become reheated and rise again. Hot bubbles rise quickly to higher levels, cooling and expanding, just like hot air rising in the atmosphere of the earth. It help to imagine a boiling pot of water with hot rising bubbles and cooler sinking material. This results in large bubbles of ionised gas rising through the convection zone, The energy pouring from the radiative zone gets trapped and cannot escape, so giant convection currentsĪre set up with hot matter rising and the cooler matter sinking. The convection zone is a turbulent mass of material through which the radiation cannot pass as the temperature is too low (about 2 million KĪt the bottom of the convection zone). Through the radiative zone, traveling in a very haphazard path, losing energy in the process. Where the nuclear fusion that generates massive amounts of energy takes place.īetween the core and the convective zone, the radiative zone extends to about 70% of the sun's radius. With temperatures at 15 million K and a density of 160,000 Kg/m3, this is the place The core of the sun is the the real powerhouse. Temperatures run from a mere 5780K on the outer visible layer (the photosphere) to about 15 MILLION Kelvin in the middle! The sun is essentially a giant ball of gas and plasma that gets hotter and denser as you travel from the outer rim to the centre. Grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do." This allows measurement of the temperature gradient."The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of Near the edge, light comes from higher up in the photosphere, where the temperature is lower and the radiation weaker. The density of the ionized gas is about 1/1,000 that of air at Earth’s surface, but it is much more opaque, because of strong absorption of light by the hydrogen ions.Ī low-resolution image of the photosphere shows little structure except for a darkening toward the outermost regions, called limb darkening. Photons generated deeper than this cannot get out without absorption and reemission. The temperatures in this layer range from 4,400 kelvins (K 4,100 ☌, or 7,400 ☏) at the top to 10,000 K (9,700 ☌, or 17,500 ☏) at the bottom. The photosphere is thus a layer some 400 km (250 miles) thick. Scientists consider the “surface” of the Sun to be the region above which most photons (the quantum carriers of light energy) escape. Since the Sun is so far away, the edge of the photosphere appears sharp to the naked eye, but in reality the Sun has no surface, since it is too hot for matter to exist in anything but a plasma state-that is, as a gas composed of ionized atoms. Photosphere, visible surface of the Sun, from which is emitted most of the Sun’s light that reaches Earth directly. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.
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