The lower region of the Sun's atmosphere is called the chromosphere. Its name comes from the Greek root chroma (meaning color), for it appears bright red when viewed during a solar eclipse. The chromosphere extends for about 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) above the visible surface of the Sun.

What is the purpose of the chromosphere?

The chromosphere may play a role in conducting heat from the interior of the sun to its outermost layer, the corona.

Where is the chromosphere of the Sun?

Chromosphere - The chromosphere is a layer in the Sun between about 250 miles (400 km) and 1300 miles (2100 km) above the solar surface (the photosphere).

What layer is the chromosphere?

The chromosphere is the second most outer layer of the Sun. Several thousand kilometres thick, it resides above the photosphere and beneath the corona. Due to its low density, it is relatively transparent, resulting in the photosphere being regarded as the visual surface of the Sun.

What is the chromosphere made up of?

The chromosphere is mainly made of hydrogen and helium plasma, which is ionized to produce red visible light, as seen during an eclipse.

Astronomy - The Sun (12 of 16) The Chromosphere

16 related questions found

Where is the chromosphere of the Sun quizlet?

Where is the chromosphere on the Sun? It is the layer above the visible surface of the Sun.

What does the chromosphere contribute to the solar spectrum?

A wavelength of 656.3 nm is in the red part of the spectrum, which causes the chromosphere to have its characteristic reddish colour. By analysing the spectrum of the chromosphere, it was found that the temperature of this layer of the solar atmosphere increases with height in the chromosphere itself.

What does the word chromosphere mean?

Definition: Chromosphere is a reddish and glowing layer of gas above a star's (or Sun's) photosphere. It is actually the transition between corona and the photosphere. Out of the three layers of the Sun's atmosphere, chromosphere is the second one (with photosphere being the first layer and corona as the third).

How hot is the chromosphere of the Sun?

the chromosphere is the innermost atmospheric layer. It is just above the photosphere. Here the temperature begins to rise again, to about 36,000 degrees F. Above the chromosphere is the transistion layer, where temperatures increase 6000 to over half-a-million degrees.

How thick is the chromosphere?

The chromosphere is about 2000 km thick. We only see this layer and the other outer layers during an eclipse. The corona extends outwards for more than a solar radius.

What wavelength does the chromosphere emit?

Why does the chromosphere shine so brightly in the color red? Composed mostly of hydrogen, under these temperature conditions, the most common way that hydrogen gases shine is through the emission of a particular spectral line called hydrogen-alpha or Ha at a wavelength of 656.3 nanometers (6563 Angstroms).

What is the chromosphere and when can it be seen?

The chromosphere, thus, can be only seen during a complete solar eclipse. ... It is the H-alpha emission which actually gives the chromosphere its reddish colour. The red rim can be seen when this H-alpha burns at a high temperature during a total solar eclipse.

Why is the chromosphere pink?

The chromosphere represents the dynamic transition between the cool temperature minimum of the outer photosphere and the diffuse million-degree corona above. It derives its name and pink colour from the red Hα line of hydrogen at 6562.8 angstroms (Å); 1 Å = 10⁻¹⁰ metre.

What is the convective zone of the Sun?

The convection zone is the outer-most layer of the solar interior. It extends from a depth of about 200,000 km right up to the visible surface. At the base of the convection zone the temperature is about 2,000,000° C.

Why is the chromosphere hotter than the photosphere?

The Sun may look like just a mass of incandescent gas (plasma, really), but it's actually broken up into layers. The chromosphere is relatively thin region of the Sun that's just above the photosphere. ... Even though it's more distant from the center of the Sun, the chromosphere is hotter than the photosphere.

What is the solar flare of the Sun?

A solar flare is a sudden flash of increased brightness on the Sun, usually observed near its surface and in close proximity to a sunspot group. Powerful flares are often, but not always, accompanied by a coronal mass ejection. ... It usually takes days for the solar plasma ejecta to reach Earth.

What is another name for the chromosphere?

Find another word for chromosphere. In this page you can discover 5 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for chromosphere, like: photosphere, solar-corona, outer-atmosphere, mesosphere and aurorae.

What is the eruption of gases from the chromosphere?

Solar flares are sporadic local eruptions of the chromosphere. They develop suddenly and rapidly, in minutes, and cover a relatively small region of the solar surface. Initially they manifest themselves by a localized sudden brightening. The duration of a solar flare ranges from about 20 minutes to as much as 3 hours.

Which structure of the Sun refers to a highly tenuous region over the chromosphere?

The Chromosphere - This relatively thin layer of the Sun is sculpted by magnetic field lines that restrain the electrically charged solar plasma. Occasionally larger plasma features, called prominences, form and extend far into the very tenuous and hot corona, sometimes ejecting material away from the Sun.

What is an example of chromosphere?

the sun, between the hot, dense photosphere and the much hotter, tenuous corona. A glowing, transparent layer of gas surrounding the photosphere of a star. The Sun's chromosphere is several thousand kilometers thick, is composed mainly of hydrogen at temperatures of 6,000° to 20,000°K, and gives off reddish light.

Does the Sun have corona?

The corona is the outer atmosphere of the Sun. It extends many thousands of kilometers (miles) above the visible "surface" of the Sun, gradually transforming into the solar wind that flows outward through our solar system.

How hot are solar winds?

The solar wind is a stream of energized, charged particles, primarily electrons and protons, flowing outward from the Sun, through the solar system at speeds as high as 900 km/s and at a temperature of 1 million degrees (Celsius).

What interesting features does the chromosphere have?

These features include the chromospheric network of magnetic field elements, bright plage around sunspots, dark filaments across the disk and prominences above the limb. The chromosphere is the site of activity as well.

What is the difference between corona and chromosphere?

is that corona is (star) the luminous plasma atmosphere of the sun or other star, extending millions of kilometres into space, most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, while chromosphere is (star) the faint pink extension of a star's atmospheric envelope between the corona and the photosphere.

How can you identify the chromosphere during a total solar eclipse?

How can you identify the chromosphere during a total solar eclipse? It's a reddish glow at the end or beginning of an eclipse. Why can you see the corona during a total solar eclipse? Because the moon blocks out the glow of the photosphere.