Sun

We are going to talk about how the Sun’s composition and results of this.

There are 6 layers to the Sun - 3 inner layers and 3 outer layers. The core produces immense amounts of energy that holds the Sun up under its immense gravity. Photons can take 50,000 years pass through the radiative zone, due to collisions with particles within the sun. In the convection zone, material heated by heat from the core and radiative zone floats to the top, and cooler, denser material sinks to the bottom to be heated. The photosphere is the part of the Sun that we see shining. Surprisingly, it is also the coolest layer of the Sun, at just 6,000 degrees. The chromosphere is the final layer of the Sun with a defined outer boundary. The corona is only visible during a total solar eclipse. The corona does not have a defined outer boundary, as it melds into the solar wind.

The Sun is composed of plasma. This substance is like gas, except that it can produce, and react to, a magnetic field. The movement of plasma beneath the Sun’s surface creates large magnetic loops. Hot plasma is drawn on these loops, away from areas called sunspots. Sunspots appear dark compared to the rest of the sun because heat is drawn away from them, causing them to become cooler than the rest of the sun. Sunspots occur in pairs where the magnetic loops enter and exit the Sun. The magnetic loops, visible due to the plasma flowing along them, are called solar prominences. When these solar prominences break, then plasma is ejected into space in an event called a solar flare. Solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, are ejections of extremely hot material from the Sun.