The Sun is the most prominent feature in our solar system. It is the largest object and contains approximately 98% of the total solar system mass. One hundred and nine Earths would be required to fit across the Sun's disk, and its interior could hold over 1.3 million Earths. The Sun's outer visible layer is called the photosphere and has a temperature of 6,000°C (11,000°F). This layer has a mottled appearance due to the turbulent eruptions of energy at the surface.

The CORE of the Sun is where energy is first formed. Its temperature is 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. From the core, energy moves outward toward the Sun's surface and surrounding atmosphere. The energy moves through several layers or zones. Remember the Sun's layers are made of hot gases and they not solid like the Earth's layers.
The energy moves out from the core through the RADIATIVE ZONE. Scientists calculate the temperature to be cooler than the core-it is only a 4.5 million degrees Fahrenheit. That's HOT!
The Sun's next layer is the CONVECTION ZONE. Convection is how energy moves from the inner parts of the Sun to the outer part of the Sun that we see. The Sun's convection zone is a bubbling 2 millions degrees Fahrenheit.

The PHOTOSPHERE, the Sun's visible surface, is the next layer of the Sun. The bubbling motion of the convection layer makes the granular patterns we see on the photosphere. Sunspots-indicating giant magnetic storms-are also visible on the photosphere. Most of the time sunspots come in pairs-like the poles of a magnet. Even though sunspots are very, very hot they look darker than the rest of the Sun because they're cooler. This layer of the Sun has cooled off to 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit and the Sunspots are even cooler-about 7,800 degrees F.
Just above the photosphere is the CHROMOSPHERE with huge solar flares and loops of hot gases shooting up thousands of miles. Things begin to heat up again here-the temperature is estimated to be 50,000 degrees F.
And above the chromosphere is the CORONA-we can only see it during a total solar eclipse. The corona is very, very hotdž million degrees F. It is also very thin. Sometimes when the Sun is very active, the hot gases shooting out of the Sun are so powerful that they blow away from the Sun into the solar system. They stream away in all direction from the Sun and can move up to 1 million miles per hour. These streaming, hot gases are called the SOLAR WIND.