Question of the Day

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Question of the Day

• Monday, January 14, 2008
• Why do we begin studying stars with the sun?

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Structure of the Sun
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7 Layers

• Core
• Radiation Zone
• Convection Zone

• Photosphere
• Chromosphere
• Transition Zone
• Corona

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Core

• Radius of about 200,000 km
• Average temp of 15 million K
• Where nuclear fusion takes place

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Radiation Zone

• Thickness of about 300,000 km
• Average temp of 7 million K
• Where solar energy is transported towards the
  surface by radiation (heat transmitted by protons)

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Convection Zone

• Thickness of about 200,000 km
• Average temp of 2 million K, making convection
  possible
• Where the Suns material is in constant
  convective motion

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Photosphere

• Thickness of about 500 km
• Average temp of 6000 K
• The surface
• Where most features of the sun are found
• It emits the radiation that we see

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Chromosphere

• Thickness of about 1500 km
• Average temp of 4500 k
• Can be seen as a pink glow during a solar eclipse
• The color is a result of the abundance of H

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Transition Zone

• Thickness of about 8500 km
• Where the temp drastically increases to over 1
  million K

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Corona

• Starts about 10,000 km above the surface
• Temp is above 1 million K
• Where particles are moving fast enough to escape
  the sun (solar wind)

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• Sun loses 1 million tons of mass per second due
  to solar wind
• Less than 0.1 of the Suns mass has been lost
  since it became a star
• Can be seen in a total solar eclipse

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Quick Review

• Draw a diagram of the suns layers.