photosphere

The photosphere of an astronomical object is the region from which externally received light originates. The term itself is derived from Ancient Greek roots, φως¨- φωτος/photos meaning "light" and σφαιρα/sphaira meaning "ball," in reference to the fact that it is a ball-shaped surface perceived to emit light. It extends into a star's surface until the gas becomes opaque, equivalent to an optical depth of approximately 2/3^[1]. In other words, a photosphere is the deepest region of a luminous object, usually a star, that is transparent to photons of certain wavelengths.

Effective temperature

The surface of a star is defined to have a temperature given by the effective temperature in the Stefan–Boltzmann law. By using a simple model for stellar atmospheres, assuming local thermal equilibrium in a plane parallel geometry and the Eddington approximation, the effective temperature of the sun can be shown to occur at an optical depth of 2/3.^[2] This indicates the surface of a star is not at the top of the atmosphere where the optical depth is defined as zero: Stars are observed at a depth inside the atmosphere. Stars, excepting neutron stars, have no solid surface.^[3] Therefore, the photosphere is typically used to describe the Sun's or another star's visual surface.

The Sun

Temperature and density of the Sun's atmosphere

The Sun's photosphere has a temperature between 4500 and 6000 kelvins ^[4] (with an effective temperature of 5800 kelvin) ^[5] and a density of about 2 × 10⁻⁴ kg m^{-3 [6]}; other stars may have hotter or cooler photospheres. The Sun's photosphere is composed of convection cells called granules—cells of gas each approximately 1000 kilometers in diameter^[7] with hot rising gas in the center and cooler gas falling in the narrow spaces between them. Each granule has a lifespan of only about eight minutes, resulting in a continually shifting "boiling" pattern. Grouping the typical granules are super granules up to 30,000 kilometers in diameter with lifespans of up to 24 hours. These details are too fine to see on other stars.

Other layers

The structure of the Sun

The Sun's visible atmosphere has other layers above the photosphere: the 2,000 kilometer-deep chromosphere (typically observed by filtered light, for example H-alpha) lies just between the photosphere and the much hotter but more tenuous corona. Other "surface features" on the photosphere are solar flares and sunspots.

The image of the surface shown in the illustration to the right is actually an ultraviolet image of helium gas at 30.4 nm (from the European Space Agency/NASA SOHO spacecraft), and comes from the chromosphere, which is just above the photosphere, so the "photosphere" label attached to this image is actually incorrect.

References

External links

• Animated explanation of the Photosphere (University of Glamorgan).
• Animated explanation of the temperature of the Photosphere (University of Glamorgan).