Mystery of Corona Layer: Our life on Earth exists because of our closest star, the Sun. Nuclear reactions are taking place in the center of our sun, the temperature of which is 10 million degrees. If you move away from the nuclear region as you reach the surface of the Sun, the temperature drops to about 6,000 degrees, but if you go a little further away, the temperature doubles to about a million degrees. So why did the temperature get hot! This is a great mystery of astronomy.
Our star sun is perfect for us in our life. The main reason for this is that our sun is a stable star, but for the last four billion years our sun has been stable in terms of its temperature. If we were to look for life on another planet, our biggest target would be its star, whether that star is stable or not. If you think about it, it will seem quite strange that there are nuclear reactions in the center of the Sun, in which about 100 million megatons of hydrogen bomb are being explored every second.
This energy helps keep our Sun stable. But if you start moving out of that nuclear region, the temperature of the sun keeps decreasing, and as you reach the surface of the sun, the temperature becomes 6000 at that time.
Now the question is, the sun is a ball of gases (hydrogen and helium), so how is the surface of the sun! Astronomers say that this is the place where we cannot see inside the sun, here the gases become opaque, this is called photosphere by astronomers.
Photosphere: Photosphere also tells the color of the star and from that color we know the temperature of that star. So the temperature of our sun’s surface i.e. photosphere is 6000 degrees, so we know that the color of the sun is blue.
If you look carefully at this Photosphere, you will know that it is not that much work.
In this image you can see each cell in which the gases boil from the bottom and rise to the top and then when they rise the temperature is slightly lower then they fall to one side which is why you see the dark region. A Pakistan can comfortably fit in this one cell.
Now if you move a little away from this photosphere, then the temperature of the gases goes to million degrees. These gases are not visible to us, but they are visible in solar eclipse.
When the moon comes in front of the sun, the gas that is visible at that time is called by astronomers Corona. But even astronomers do not know the answer to why the temperature of corona gases is so high, it is a big astronomy mystery. The idea is that the Sun’s magnetic activities are heating the Corona Gases.
This material (gases) came out of the Sun’s photosphere and came out towards the corona. Some become material flares that we call solar flares. These solar flares eject this material towards the solar system.
Such solar flares such as Aurora Layers, the beautiful kind of light often seen poleward in the northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere, are caused by these solar particles. But such solar flares can be quite dangerous, but the largest solar flare detected so far is called The Carrington Event. This solar flare was detected in 1859 and it caused a lot of damage to the earth, but it has come out from NASA that in 2025, an even bigger solar flare is coming.
Solar Orbiter (Corona Layer)
Solar Orbiter is a new spacecraft that was sent to the Sun called Solo. It detected when you see these solar flares they are not big flares but small flares and there are millions of them. A small flare is the size of Pakistan. These small flares provide heat for the corona and also provide heat for the temperature of the corona.
Parker Solar Probe: This solar probe has been sent by NASA to study the entire Sun. By 2025, Parker Solar Probe will be in a variety of orbits and will be only 6 million kilometers from the Sun, about 600,000 kilometers, much closer than Mercury. No other spacecraft has come this close till date. It has a huge heat shield that protects the instruments. The Parker Solar Probe can provide the most maps of the Sun.
Note: All these efforts are for us to know more about our Sun and the activities inside the Sun.
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