Download Layers of the Sun

Layers of the Sun
*Remember, the sun is a ball of mixed gases, so the layers are
not as defined as the layers of the Earth.*
Corona
Photosphere
Vocabulary included in these notes:
*Corona
*Photosphere
*Chromosphere
*Solar Flare
*Prominence
Chromosphere
Photosphere:
* Innermost layer
* Think of the word ‘photo.’ On a camera, there is a flash that gives off light,
that is what the photosphere does – gives off the light we see from the sun.
Chromosphere:
* Middle layer
* Where the eruption of the solar flare begins. Think of the chromosphere as
the ‘magma chamber’ of the sun. The gases begin the eruption process here and
the solar flare occurs on the surface, or the Corona. There solar flares can last
for minutes or hours.
* This is also where prominences begin to take place. Think of a prominence as a
shooting star. The glowing gases leap out of the chromosphere, through the
Corona and loop back around into the Chromosphere.
Corona:
* The surface of the sun.
*Sunspots are visible on the Corona. Think of sunspots as the birthmarks of the
sun – different in color and easy to identify. Sunspots are dark in color because
they cool to about 3000˚F, making them much cooler than the rest of the
photosphere (where they are created).
* Galileo noticed the location of the sunspots on the sun and through much
observation, came to realize the sunspots were changing location. In turn, he
concluded that the sun must be rotating.
*Sunspots can be counted. The more sunspots there are, the more likely a solar
flare or prominence is to occur.