The Sun doesn’t have a solid surface like Earth and the other rocky planets and moons. The part of the Sun commonly called its surface is the photosphere. The word photosphere means “light sphere” – which is apt because this is the layer that emits the most visible light. It’s what we see from Earth with our eyes.

Although we call it the surface, the photosphere is actually the first layer of the solar atmosphere. It’s about 250 miles thick, with temperatures reaching about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (5,500 degrees Celsius). That’s much cooler than the blazing core, but it’s still hot enough to make carbon – like diamonds and graphitenot just melt, but boil. Most of the Sun’s radiation escapes outward from the photosphere into space.

  • portside@monyet.cc
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    1 year ago

    I want to use this as my wallpaper, when I download it’s 543kb, 666x1024px. Is there a higher resolution one?

    • birdcat@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Made with the amazing FOSS AI image upscaler Upscayl

      sun

      but idk, Earth and Jupiter will always be the most photogenic stars, planets, whatever the category for all of those things is …