Stellar corona

During a total solar eclipse, the Sun's corona and prominences are visible to the naked eye.

A corona (pl.: coronas or coronae) is the outermost layer of a star's atmosphere. It consists of plasma.

The Sun's corona lies above the chromosphere and extends millions of kilometres into outer space. It is most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but it is also observable with a coronagraph. Spectroscopic measurements indicate strong ionization in the corona and a plasma temperature in excess of 1000000 kelvins,[1] much hotter than the surface of the Sun, known as the photosphere.

Corona (Latin for 'crown') is, in turn, derived from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē) 'garland, wreath'.

  1. ^ Aschwanden, Markus J. (2005). Physics of the Solar Corona: An Introduction with Problems and Solutions. Chichester, UK: Praxis Publishing. ISBN 978-3-540-22321-4.