• Question: how hot is the sun?

    Asked by djswilliam to Phil on 9 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Phil Sutton

      Phil Sutton answered on 9 Mar 2017:

      Well all depends what part of the Sun you are referring to. If its the photosphere which is what we might call the visible surface (the part you would see when watching an eclipse) then that is approximately 5,500 degree C. However, the Sun does have an atmosphere which includes the chromosphere and corona. The temperature here can range from 4,000 degrees C at the bottom of the chromosphere all the way up to 20,000,000 degrees C at the hottest parts of the corona. The corona is the bit you can only see around the edge during a solar eclipse.

      Our Sun is also quite a small cool star in comparison many of the others we know about.

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