Sun 4

The transition region is not easily visible from Earth's surface, but is readily observable
from space by instruments sensitive to the extreme ultraviolet portion of the spectrum.[80]
During a total solar eclipse, the solar corona can be seen with the
naked eye, during the brief period of totality.
The corona is the next layer of the Sun. The low corona, near the surface of the Sun, has a particle
density around 1015 m−3 to 1016 m−3.[78][e] The average temperature of the corona and solar wind is about
1,000,000–2,000,000 K; however, in the hottest regions it is 8,000,000–20,000,000 K.[79] Although no
complete theory yet exists to account for the temperature of the corona, at least some of its heat is
known to be from magnetic reconnection.[79][81] The corona is the extended atmosphere of the Sun,
which has a volume much larger than the volume enclosed by the Sun's photosphere. A flow of
plasma outward from the Sun into interplanetary space is the solar wind.[81]
The heliosphere, the tenuous outermost atmosphere of the Sun, is filled with solar wind plasma. This
outermost layer of the Sun is defined to begin at the distance where the flow of the solar wind
becomes superalfvénic—that is, where the flow becomes faster than the speed of Alfvén waves,[82] at
approximately 20 solar radii (0.1 AU). Turbulence and dynamic forces in the heliosphere cannot
affect the shape of the solar corona within, because the information can only travel at the speed of
Alfvén waves. The solar wind travels outward continuously through the heliosphere, [83][84] forming the
solar magnetic field into a spiral shape,[81] until it impacts the heliopause more than 50 AU from the
Sun. In December 2004, the Voyager 1 probe passed through a shock front that is thought to be part
of the heliopause.[85] In late 2012, Voyager 1 recorded a marked increase in cosmic ray collisions and
a sharp drop in lower energy particles from the solar wind, which suggested that the probe had
passed through the heliopause and entered the interstellar medium,[86] and indeed did so on August
25, 2012, at approximately 122 astronomical units (18 Tm) from the Sun.[87] The heliosphere has
a heliotail which stretches out behind it due to the Sun's movement.[88]
On April 28, 2021, during its eighth flyby of the Sun, NASA's Parker Solar Probe encountered the
specific magnetic and particle conditions at 18.8 solar radii that indicated that it penetrated
the Alfvén surface, the boundary separating the corona from the solar wind defined as where the
coronal plasma's Alfvén speed and the large-scale solar wind speed are equal. [89][90] The probe
measured the solar wind plasma environment with its FIELDS and SWEAP instruments. [91] This event
was described by NASA as "touching the Sun".[89] During the flyby, Parker Solar Probe passed into
and out of the corona several times. This proved the predictions that the Alfvén critical surface is not
shaped like a smooth ball, but has spikes and valleys that wrinkle its surface.[89]
Sunlight and neutrinos
Main articles: Sunlight and Solar irradiance
The Sun seen through a light fog
The Sun emits light across the visible spectrum, so its color is white, with a CIE color-space index
near (0.3, 0.3), when viewed from space or when the Sun is high in the sky. The Solar radiance per
wavelength peaks in the green portion of the spectrum when viewed from space. [92][93] When the Sun
is very low in the sky, atmospheric scattering renders the Sun yellow, red, orange, or magenta, and
in rare occasions even green or blue. Despite its typical whiteness (white sunrays, white ambient
light, white illumination of the Moon, etc.), some cultures mentally picture the Sun as yellow and
some even red; the reasons for this are cultural and exact ones are the subject of debate. [94] The Sun
is a G2V star, with G2 indicating its surface temperature of approximately 5,778 K (5,505 °C;
9,941 °F), and V that it, like most stars, is a main-sequence star.[59][95]
The solar constant is the amount of power that the Sun deposits per unit area that is directly
exposed to sunlight. The solar constant is equal to approximately 1,368 W/m2 (watts per square
meter) at a distance of one astronomical unit (AU) from the Sun (that is, at or near Earth's orbit).
[96]
Sunlight on the surface of Earth is attenuated by Earth's atmosphere, so that less power arrives at
the surface (closer to 1,000 W/m2) in clear conditions when the Sun is near the zenith.[97] Sunlight at
the top of Earth's atmosphere is composed (by total energy) of about 50% infrared light, 40% visible
light, and 10% ultraviolet light.[98] The atmosphere in particular filters out over 70% of solar ultraviolet,
especially at the shorter wavelengths.[99] Solar ultraviolet radiation ionizes Earth's dayside upper
atmosphere, creating the electrically conducting ionosphere.[100]
Ultraviolet light from the Sun has antiseptic properties and can be used to sanitize tools and water. It
also causes sunburn, and has other biological effects such as the production of vitamin D and sun
tanning. It is also the main cause of skin cancer. Ultraviolet light is strongly attenuated by
Earth's ozone layer, so that the amount of UV varies greatly with latitude and has been partially
responsible for many biological adaptations, including variations in human skin color in different
regions of the Earth.[101]
Once outside the Sun's surface, neutrinos and

photons travel at the speed of light.
High-energy gamma ray photons initially released with fusion reactions in the core are almost
immediately absorbed by the solar plasma of the radiative zone, usually after traveling only a few
millimeters. Re-emission happens in a random direction and usually at slightly lower energy. With
this sequence of emissions and absorptions, it takes a long time for radiation to reach the Sun's
surface. Estimates of the photon travel time range between 10,000 and 170,000 years.[102] In contrast,
it takes only 2.3 seconds for neutrinos, which account for about 2% of the total energy production of
the Sun, to reach the surface. Because energy transport in the Sun is a process that involves
photons in thermodynamic equilibrium with matter, the time scale of energy transport in the Sun is
longer, on the order of 30,000,000 years. This is the time it would take the Sun to return to a stable
state if the rate of energy generation in its core were suddenly changed.[103]
Neutrinos are also released by fusion reactions in the core, but, unlike photons, they rarely interact
with matter, so almost all are able to escape the Sun immediately. For many years, measurements
of the number of neutrinos produced in the Sun were lower than theories predicted by a factor of 3.
In 2001, the discovery of the effects of neutrino oscillation resolved the discrepancy: the Sun emits
the number of neutrinos predicted by the theory, but neutrino detectors were missing 2⁄3 of them
because the neutrinos had changed flavor by the time they were detected.[104]
Magnetic activity

Sun 4

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The transition region is not easily visible from Earth's surface, but is readily observable

Once outside the Sun's surface, neutrinos and

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