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Solar System Everything in the Solar System orbits around the Sun. It's mass is greater than all of the other planets combined. Even though the Sun is huge, it is small when compared to other stars in the galaxy. Even though it is smaller, the Sun provides all of the light for the Solar System. The entire group of Sun and planets is called the Solar System.

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Sun creates the seasons of the year Everything on Earth is affected by the Sun. The Earth's orientation to the Sun creates the seasons of the year. When your hemisphere of Earth is directed away from the Sun, it is winter. When your hemisphere is pointed closer to the Sun, it is summer. So when you're in the Northern Hemisphere and it's summer, kids in Australia might be skiing

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Sun's energy The Sun's energy is spread around the planet, but is focused on or near the equator. That centerline of the planet is where you will find long sunny days, very little seasonal change, and the warmest ocean waters. From the equatorial regions, energy moves north and south as it circulates around the planet. That circulation can happen in the atmosphere or the oceans.

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Sun has different layers The Sun has different layers in its atmosphere, just like the Earth. Don't get excited, you aren't going to be able to breathe on the Sun. The layers of the atmosphere are huge, swirling masses of plasma at extremely high temperatures. Surrounding the core is a radioactive level of plasma.

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Sun has different layers Reactions happen in that layer and churn/stir the next layer, the convective layer. Large amounts of interaction occur in the convective layer. It's constantly spinning the way storms spin on Earth. The outer layer of the Sun's atmosphere is the photosphere. When scientists use special telescopes to look at the Sun, this is the layer they can see.

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Layers of the Sun

Let’s see how the energy of the Sun moves from its inner core to the outer regions of its atmosphere. The CORE of the Sun is where energy is first formed. – Its temperature is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. From the core, Energy moves outward toward the Sun’s surface and surrounding atmosphere. The energy moves through several layers or zones. Remember the Sun’s layers are made of hot gases and they not solid like the Earth’s layers.

Layers of the Sun The energy moves out from the core through the RADIATIVE ZONE. Scientists calculate the temperature to be cooler than the core—it is only a 4.5 million degrees Fahrenheit. That’s HOT!

Layers of the Sun The Sun’s next layer is the CONVECTION ZONE. Convection is how energy moves from the inner parts of the Sun to the outer part of the Sun that we see. We can see convection when we look at a pot of boiling water. Convection is what makes large, slow moving bubbles form in a bowl of hot soup.

Layers of the Sun Through convection the heat moves from the bottom of the hot soup to the soup’s surface where it is cooler. The Sun’s convection zone is a bubbling 2 millions degrees Fahrenheit.

Layers of the Sun The PHOTOSPHERE, the Sun’s visible surface, is the next layer of the Sun. The bubbling motion of the convection layer makes the granular patterns we see on the photosphere.

Layers of the Sun The granules may look small in pictures, but scientists estimate they are really about the size of the Moon. Sunspots—indicating giant magnetic storms— are also visible on the photosphere. Most of the time sunspots come in pairs—like the poles of a magnet.

Layers of the Sun Even though sunspots are very, very hot they look darker than the rest of the Sun because they’re cooler. This layer of the Sun has cooled off to 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit and the Sunspots are even cooler—about 7,800 degrees F.

Layers of the Sun Just above the photosphere is the CHROMOSPHERE with huge solar flares and loops of hot gases shooting up thousands of miles. Things begin to heat up again here— the temperature is estimated to be 50,000 degrees F.

Layers of the Sun And above the chromosphere is the CORONA—we can only see it during a total solar eclipse. The corona is very, very hot—4 million degrees F. It is also very thin. Scientists are still trying to figure out why it is hotter than other parts of the Sun. This is a big mystery…

Layers of the Sun Sometimes when the Sun is very active, the hot gases shooting out of the Sun are so powerful that they blow away from the Sun into the solar system. They stream away in all direction from the Sun and can move up to 1 million miles per hour. These streaming, hot gases are called the SOLAR WIND.

Layers of the Sun SOLAR FLARES are sudden, bright outbursts of energy that happen as the Sun’s magnetic fields twist, tear and reconnect.

Layers of the Sun CORONAL LOOPS are magnetic loops with strong magnetic fields. Giant arches of gas that erupt on the Sun are called PROMINENCES. They can last several days.

Layers of the Sun CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS coming from the Sun have the most energy of all these solar events. Sometimes they head toward the Earth where they can cause communications disruptions and damage satellites. We are very lucky here on Earth because we have a powerful magnetic shield around us which protects us from getting too much energy. Earth is the perfect home planet forus!

Label the Layers of the Sun

1.) Core 2.) Radiation Zone 3.) Convection Zone 4.) Photosphere 5.) Chromosphere 6.) Corona 7.) Solar Prominence

SUN SPOTS Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions.phenomena photosphereSunvisibly

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Sun Outline The Facts The sun provides heat, light and much needed energy for our planet. Made up completely of gasses, the layers of the sun include the inner core, radiative zone, convection zone, photosphere, chromosphere and the corona. What we see as the sun rises is the photosphere. The Inner core, radiative zone, and convection zone make up the inner structure of the sun.

Sun Outline Misconceptions One of the most common misconceptions is that the sun has a solid surface. There is not a solid fixed surface on the sun. Rather, the sun is made up entirely of gases. The photosphere, which is often mistaken to look like the surface, is the region of gas on the outer edge of the sun that emits light in wavelengths that can be seen.

Sun Outline Size One of the most common misconceptions is that the sun has a solid surface. There is not a solid fixed surface on the sun. Rather, the sun is made up entirely of gases. The photosphere, which is often mistaken to look like the surface, is the region of gas on the outer edge of the sun that emits light in wavelengths that can be seen.

Sun Outline Function The sun's layers each have a role in the production of heat and stabilization of its mass. The core's pressure supports all of the overlying gas preventing the sun from collapsing.

Sun Outline Function The radiative zone and convection zone maintain pressure against the core. The photosphere is the layer by which earth receives the light and heat the sun creates. The chromosphere emits most of its light in the ultraviolet spectrum. And the corona is the tool the sun uses to distribute the light and heat, which are carried by solar winds to the earth and the other planets.

Sun Outline Effects The layers of the sun have different influence on what is seen and felt from the earth's surface. The core produces the most heat, which flows outward through the other layers. The Radiative zone and convection zone stimulate the continual production of gamma rays, producing heat and light. The photosphere emits the light that we see. And the Chromosphere and corona are the hottest layers.stimulate

Sun Outline Effects The Chromosphere reaches between 10,000 Kelvin and 20,000 Kelvin. And the corona, even hotter, can reach up to 500,000 Kelvin. Kelvin is a metric unit astronomers use to measure star temperatures. It is equal to exactly one degree of Celsius, but starts much lower at absolute zero which is degrees Celsius or degrees Fahrenheit.

Sun Project