6. The Layers of the Sun

The halo of gas around the sun is called the corona, the outermost layer of the sun. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.

The Sun is composed of three layers. The layer we can see with the naked eye here on Earth is the photosphere which is the only visible layer of the Sun. Most of the visible light from the sun comes from this layer. Hot spots and solar flares also are located in this layer. Beyond that is the chromosphere, which is hotter than the photosphere. The chromosphere is usually only visible during a solar eclipse.The corona is the hottest and outermost layer of the atmosphere. It consists of low-density gas with a temperature greater than one million degrees Kelvin (1 million Kelvin is equal to 999,727 degrees Celsius). Solar winds escape through holes in the corona.

Layers of the sun. Image courtesy of TeachEngineering.

Source: TeachEngineering. Our Amazing, Powerful Sun. Retrieved from http://www.oercommons.org/courses/our-amazing-powerful-sun/view on August 23, 2012.