• Question: How hot is the sun

    Asked by anon-230120 to Sarah, Isaac, Hira, Elena, Anisha, Alex on 15 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Sarah Knight

      Sarah Knight answered on 15 Nov 2019:

      It depends which bit! The actual surface of the sun is “only” (!) about 6000 degrees Celsius, but the corona (the gases around it) are much hotter — millions of degrees! I don’t think scientists know exactly why this is, but it’s possible that the gas in the corona is heated by the sun’s magnetic field.

    • Photo: Alex Leide

      Alex Leide answered on 15 Nov 2019: last edited 15 Nov 2019 5:51 pm

      The Sun is powered by nuclear fusion and the centre is about 15,000,000 C. When we do fusion on earth, the plasma is about 150,000,000 C which I find amazing! My old research project was on materials to build nuclear fusion reactors out of to withstand this temperature. Like Sarah said, the surface is much colder, about 3000C in a fusion reactor, so it makes finding materials a “little” bit easier, but it is still a challenge!

    • Photo: Anisha Wijeyesekera

      Anisha Wijeyesekera answered on 17 Nov 2019:

      According to NASA, it is 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit at the surface, and 27 million degrees Fahrenheit at its core. Sizzling!

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