Our Sun [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is really very hot. The Sun's outer atmosphere is so hot that it emits much light in the X-ray [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] band, which was unexpected. X-rays are usually emitted from objects having a temperature in the millions of degrees, not the mere thousands of degrees of the Sun's surface. The above X-ray picture shows the Sun [
http://seds.lpl.ari…] one particularly active day in August of 1992. Evident are hot spots on the solar surface, showing that areas above the Sun [
http://www.hao.ucar…]'s surface really do reach millions of degrees. But possibly more puzzling is the broader X-ray glow visible surrounding the Sun [
http://www.c3.lanl.…]. This glow is now attributed to the Sun's X-ray corona [
http://umbra.nascom…], the origin of which is currently a subject of much discussion and debate. The Sun [
http://spacelink.ms…] is one of the most photographed objects, with frequently updated pictures available [
http://umbra.nascom…] over the WWW. In fact, an X-ray picture from Yohkoh taken earlier today is usually available over the WWW. Compare it to the above picture!
Explanation
Our Sun [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is really very hot. The Sun's outer atmosphere is so hot that it emits much light in the X-ray [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] band, which was unexpected. X-rays are usually emitted from objects having a temperature in the millions of degrees, not the mere thousands of degrees of the Sun's surface. The above X-ray picture shows the Sun [
http://seds.lpl.ari…] one particularly active day in August of 1992. Evident are hot spots on the solar surface, showing that areas above the Sun [
http://www.hao.ucar…]'s surface really do reach millions of degrees. But possibly more puzzling is the broader X-ray glow visible surrounding the Sun [
http://www.c3.lanl.…]. This glow is now attributed to the Sun's X-ray corona [
http://umbra.nascom…], the origin of which is currently a subject of much discussion and debate. The Sun [
http://spacelink.ms…] is one of the most photographed objects, with frequently updated pictures available [
http://umbra.nascom…] over the WWW. In fact, an X-ray picture from Yohkoh taken earlier today is usually available over the WWW. Compare it to the above picture!
Explanation
