Sun's profile

Question 0

What is the photosphere?

Answer 0

The sun’s visible surface

Question 1

What is the chromosphere?

Answer 1

An irregular layer of atmosphere above the photosphere.

Question 2

What is the convective zone?

Answer 2

A region where energy is carried by convection cells

Question 3

What is the radiative zone?

Answer 3

Area where energy travels in the form of photons

Question 4

What happens at the core?

Answer 4

Nuclear reactions occur

Question 5

About how many years does it take light (EM radiation) to travel out of the radiative zone?

Answer 5

Approximately 1 million years

Question 6

How old is the Sun?

Answer 6

Approximately 4.6 billion years old

Question 7

How much more massive is the sun than all other solar system planets?

Answer 7

750 times the mass of all other planets in the solar system

Question 8

What are the layers of the sun starting with the center to the outside surface?

Answer 8

Core
Radiative zone
Convective zone
Photosphere
Chromosphere

Question 9

What elements compose the sun ?

Answer 9

Hydrogen=71%

Helium=27%

Question 10

What is the sun’s average distance from earth?

Answer 10

93 million miles

Question 11

What is the surface temperature of the sun?

Answer 11

9,932 F

5,500 C

Question 12

What is the temperature of the sun’s core?

Answer 12

27 million F

15 million C

Question 13

What is the diameter of the sun’s equator?

Answer 13

864,900 miles

1.4 million km

Question 14

What is the mass of the sun relative to the earth?

Answer 14

Mass=333,000

Earth=1

Question 15

Coronal Mass Ejection

Answer 15

A bubble of plasma ejected from the sun into space

Question 16

Why does the sun’s surface look granular?

Answer 16

The mottling of the surface is caused by convection cells

Question 17

Faculae

Answer 17

Intensely bright active regions that are associated with the appearance of sunspots

Question 18

Prominence

Answer 18

A dense cloud of gas, suspended above the sun’s surface by magnetic field loops that may persist for days or even weeks

Question 19

Spicules

Answer 19

Short lived jets of gas that are 6000 miles long

Question 20

Sunspots

Answer 20

Each sunspot has s dark central region, the umbra, and a lighter periphery, the penumbra. Away from the sunspots, the sun’s surface looks granulated. Each granule is the top of a convection cell in the sun’s interior

Question 21

Joseph Von Fraunhofer

Answer 21

A German physicist and optical instrument maker, Joseph Von Fraunhofer (1787-1826) is best known for his investigation of dark lines in the sun’s spectrum. Now known as Fraunhofer lines, they correspond to wavelengths of light absorbed by chemical elements in the outer parts of the sun’s atmosphere. Fraunhofer’s observations were later used to help determine the composition of the sun and other stars.