Solar Week - Ask a Question

Why is the sun's temperature hotter in the middle than it is on the outside? It's not like the earth. Emily S (FWMS)

 Hi Emily,

 

Actually the hottest part of the Sun is the outside (and yes, that's not like Earth).  It is really unclear as to why that happens.  Something is heating the outer layer of the Sun (the corona) and scientists are still trying to figure out how that works.

 

Best,

Christina

 

Hi Emily, The sun's core is indeed very hot -its about 15 million degrees kelvin. The tremendous pressures on the densely packed atoms of helium and hydrogen within the sun are what causes the sun's interior to be extremely hot. Compared to that the earth's core is only between 6000-8000 kelvin. For both the sun and earth; the temperature cools off significantly as we move outward toward the surface. For the earth the temperature continues to drop as we move up in the atmosphere(its really cold up in the clouds). What is peculiar about the sun is that the temperature starts to rise again as we move outward from the "surface" . Infact the surface temperature of the sun is about 5600 degrees Kelvin but there is a region around the Sun, extending more than one million kilometers from its surface, where the temperature can reach two million degrees! you would expect that temperature should be even lower farther away from the sun.;but the opposite happens and its still a mystery why!