The Sun in Images
Basic Information about the Sun!
THE SUN
The Layers and Parts of the Sun:
THe Sun's core
The core is the located in the interior of the center of the Sun and extends outward. The core is extremely hot, with temperatures above 15 million degrees kelvin! The conditions of the core are very extreme, including the massive amount of pressure. At the core, the gravity pulls the mass inward to create that pressure. The pressure also causes two atoms to fuse, in a process called fusion, to create mass amounts of energy.
Picture form: http://images.slideplayer.com/8/2425017/slides/slide_7.jpg
Radiative Zone
The radiative zone is located on the interior of the Sun, just outside of the core, and beneath the convection zone. In this zone, the energy, created in the core from nuclear fusion, travels outwards as electromagnetic radiation. The radiative zone and the core spin differently than the outside of the sun. Because of this, there is a boundary at the end of the radiative zone, called the tachocline.
Picture from: http://images.slideplayer.com/8/2425017/slides/slide_10.jpg
Convection Zone
The convection zone is located on the interior of the Sun, just beyond the end of the radiative zone. This layer is made up of convection currents, carrying energy towards the surface of the Sun. The convection currents allow for hot gases to rise and for cool gases to sink. There is a lot of transferring and movements of energy in this layer, so it actually takes a long time for the energy/electromagnetic waves to reach the surface.
Picture from: http://images.slideplayer.com/8/2425017/slides/slide_11.jpg
Photosphere
The photosphere is the "visible" surface of the sun. This layer is actually the coolest part of the sun, with a temperature of 6000 Kelvins. This also the layer that emits most of the white light that we see from the sun. It is also the layer that contains the dark spots on the sun, called sunspots.
Picture from: http://images.slideplayer.com/8/2425017/slides/slide_13.jpg
Chromoshpere
Picture from: http://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2013/04/sunsdo-3.jpg
Corona
The corona is the outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere. There are three different types of ways the corona can be seen; The White Light Corona, The Emission Line Corona, and the X-Ray Corona. The most common type is the White Light Corona which can be seen during eclipses, like the chromosphere. The corona is the white "crown" of light seen during an eclipse.
Picture from: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Solar_eclipse_1999_4_NR.jpg
Sun Terms
Sun Spots
(Picture from: http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/violins/sunspots_big.en.jpg )
Prominence
A prominence is a large, bright feature seen on the Sun's surface that is made up of gas. It is often in a shape of a loop that extends outward. They start at the surface of the Sun's photosphere zone and reach through the corona.
(Picture from: http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/faq1.jpg )
Solar Flare
(Picture from: http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/128/590x/solar-storm-616938.jpg )
Aurora
An aurora is a natural display of light in the sky, normally happening around the poles on the Earth. It is caused by a change in the solar winds that carries charged particle and magnetospheric plasma to the Earth's atmosphere. The energy is lost in the atmosphere, cause ionization and excitation of the atoms in the atmosphere, that emits lights in various colors.
(Picture from: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1505/AuroraNorway_Richardsen_2330.jpg )
Sources Used
http://www.windows2universe.org/sun/Solar_interior/Sun_layers/radiative_zone.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/sun3.htm
http://www.windows2universe.org/sun/atmosphere/photosphere.html
http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/chromos.shtml
http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/corona.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunspot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_prominence