The sun’s outer atmosphere is vastly hotter than its surface. Scientists may be close to figuring out why.
The corona can reach temperatures as great as 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit , while 1,000 miles below it, the photosphere only reaches temperatures of around 10,800 degrees Fahrenheit .of hydrogen to helium occurs, is where the vast majority of the sun’s heat comes from. This is like air about one foot above a campfire being hotter than air one inch away from the flames.
Satellites can investigate the sun in two ways: they can get up close and personal, making in-situ measurements like NASA’s Parker Solar Probe does, or they can make more remote investigations like the Solar Orbiter. The Solar Orbiter studies the corona from around 26 million miles away from the sun, while the Parker Solar Probe braves the blazing hot plasma of the sun as it passes around 4 million miles from the solar surface.
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