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corona |
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corona![]() The structure of the Sun. Nuclear reactions at the core release vast amounts of energy in the form of light and heat that radiate out to the photosphere and corona. Surges of glowing gas rise as prominences from the surface of the Sun and cooler areas, known as sunspots, appear as dark patches on the star's surface. Faint halo of hot (about 2,000,000°C/3,600,000°F) and tenuous gas around the Sun, which boils from the surface. It is visible at solar eclipses or through a coronagraph, an instrument that blocks light from the Sun's brilliant disc. Gas flows away from the corona to form the solar wind. It is not certain why the corona is so much hotter than the surface of the Sun (about 6,700°C/12,100°F). The heating may be due to interactions with the Sun's magnetic field, or to pulses of sound waves from the Sun. NASA's Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager mission, launched in 2001, studies the evolution of energy in the corona. corona
Corona
Corona
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These dark-appearing, open regions, known as coronal holes, permit solar wind to escape into space. The tornadoes lie at the sun's poles--the same regions where darker, cooler parts of the atmosphere, known as coronal holes, are concentrated. Right now, most of the solar wind is coming from coronal holes, or openings in the sun's magnetic field, but later in the year, the scientists expect coronal mass ejections (SN: 2/1/97, p. |
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