Solar atmosphere · ~1–3 million K
The Solar Corona
The Sun's outermost atmosphere — a tenuous, million-degree plasma extending millions of kilometres into space, visible to the eye only during a total solar eclipse or with a coronagraph. Far hotter than the surface beneath it, it is shaped by magnetic fields into loops, holes, and streamers, and it continually expands outward as the solar wind.
Highlights
- ›A million-degree atmosphere, source of the solar wind
The Sun, its layers & phenomena
Across solar physics
Knowledge connections
- Associated withThe Transition Region
- Associated withThe Sun
- Associated withThe Transition Region
- Associated withSolar Wind
- Associated withCoronal Holes
- Associated withCoronal Loop
- Associated withCoronal Streamer
- Associated withThe Coronal Heating Problem
- Associated withSOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory)
- Associated withProminence
- Associated withSpicule
- Associated withCoronal Loop
- Associated withCoronal Streamer
- Associated withPolar Coronal Plume
- Associated withMagnetic Reconnection
- Associated withThe Coronal Heating Problem
- Associated withNanoflare Heating
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.