The Sun’s surface temperature is around six thousand degrees kelvin, but the solar atmosphere-the corona and the solar wind-can reach a million degrees kelvin, a long-standing mystery in solar physics. Researchers have now confirmed one suspected source of heating. Experts are not sure why the solar corona and the solar wind are hundreds of times hotter than the surface of the Sun, but they have several theories. Million-degree plasma cools and falls to the surface, resulting in a phenomenon known as coronal rain. The energy from these solar storms also interacts with the upper layers of Earth’s atmosphere to create the beautiful displays of color we call the aurora or northern and southern lights.NASA/GSFC/SDO Burning questions. Explosive solar storms sometimes crash into Earth, interfering with human communications, navigation, and electrical transmission technologies. However, because the Sun radiates such a large amount of energy (3.8 x 1026 terawatts per second), even small fluctuations can have an impact on Earth. The amount of light emitted by the Sun is relatively constant, varying by less than 0.01% over each decade. It also gives off large amounts of matter as particle radiation called solar wind, mostly in the form of high-energy protons and electrons. The Sun continuously emits vast quantities of energy as light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. SOHO (ESA & NASA) The Sun Emits Light and Other Forms of Energy The photosphere is the surface layer of the Sun, and the solar atmosphere includes the chromosphere and corona. The interior layer of the Sun includes the core, radiative zone, and convective zone. Our planet actually orbits within the atmosphere of a star! The Sun’s lower atmosphere is called the chromosphere because the high hydrogen content causes it to appear red when viewed through a solar telescope. Solar wind is, in a sense, just an extension of the Sun’s atmosphere. The Sun does in fact have an atmosphere! The Sun’s outer atmosphere (also called the corona) is the source of solar wind, which extends millions of kilometers into space, beyond the orbits of Earth and the other planets. The photosphere is not like the surface of a planet even if you could tolerate the heat, you couldn't stand on it. It is what we see as the visible surface of the Sun. The boundary between the Sun's interior and the solar atmosphere is called the photosphere. Inside the Sun, energy is created in the core and is moved from the center to the surface through both radiation and convection, similarly to how bubbles move upward in a pot of boiling water on your stove. The Sun’s interior is divided further into three parts – core, radiative zone, and convective zone. The corona sends solar wind made of plasma out in all directions, traveling beyond the boundaries of our solar system.Īlthough the Sun isn’t solid, it has three distinguishable regions that solar physicists refer to as the interior, the visible surface, and the atmosphere. 14, 2020) the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere, called the corona, is visible. More matter exists in the plasma state than as a liquid, solid, or gas – the visible universe is thought to be 99% plasma! The Sun Has Layersĭuring a solar eclipse (Dec. Plasma is an electrically charged gas that forms at extremely high temperatures when fast moving atoms collide with each other and knock electrons loose. In the extreme heat of the Sun, most of the gas exists as plasma. Trace amounts of other elements (0.1%), such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, silicon, magnesium, neon, iron, and sulfur are also present (NASA). The Sun is a glowing, spinning ball of very hot gases, primarily hydrogen (92.1%) and helium (7.9%). Length of time to orbit the Milky Way galaxy: 250 million years What’s the Sun Made of? Length of time for one solar cycle: ~11 years Mass: 1.989 x 1030 kg – about 333,000 times the mass of EarthĪge: about 4.6 billion years old – the same as Earth and other planets that formed within our solar systemĪverage temperature: varies from 5,600 ℃ (surface) to 15 million ℃ (core)Īmount of light energy the Sun produces each second: 3.8 x 1026 terawatts (one trillion watts) – more than the amount of energy all humans will use in 600 yearsĪmount of the Sun’s energy that reaches Earth each second: 173,000 terawatts – less than one billionth of the total energy created by the Sun each secondĪmount of the Sun’s energy currently used for electricity: less than 0.1% Size (compared to Earth): about 109 times wider than the Earth – about 1.3 million Earths could fit inside the Sun Distance between the Sun and Earth: 93 million miles (149 million km)Īmount of time it takes for light from the Sun to reach Earth: about eight minutesĭiameter: 865,370 miles (1.3927 million km)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |