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AsteriaStar
Solar atmosphere · ~few thousand km thick

The Chromosphere

The reddish layer of the solar atmosphere just above the photosphere, a few thousand kilometres thick, briefly visible as a rosy rim at the start and end of a total eclipse. Its temperature rises with height, and it is threaded by spicules, filaments, and plages. Above it lies the thin transition region.

Highlights

  • The rosy layer glimpsed at eclipse — home to spicules

Across solar physics

Knowledge connections

Sources

The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.

  • NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration

    Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.

    Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.