Review Our Sun a Garden Variety Star

As astronomers have learned more about the structure of the Sun, they have found that it

• a. has a small solid core inside

• b. is made entirely of liquid, with a tiny bit of hot gas on the outside

• c. is solid throughout, but with a large very hot atmosphere

• d. is made entirely of hot gas

Which of the following statements about the Sun’s photosphere is NOT TRUE?

• a. The photosphere is significantly hotter than all the layers of the Sun beneath it (further inward)

• b. The photosphere is not a solid layer; if a spaceship (that could withstand the heat) fell through it, it wouldn’t feel anything when reaching the photosphere

• c. The photosphere is much less dense than our Earth’s atmosphere

• d. The photosphere is the layer where the Sun becomes opaque (you can’t see through it)

You are out on the beach, enjoying the warm sunshine with friends.  As you glance up at the Sun (only briefly we hope), the part of the Sun that you can see directly is called its:

• a. corona

• b. photosphere

• c. chromosphere

• d. heliopause

How do astronomers know what the outer layers of the Sun are made of?

• a. we send graduate students there to get samples

• b. several spacecraft with good shielding have approached the Sun and obtained samples

• c. the Sun's wind gives us an accurate measure of all the different elements in the Sun

• d. we take an absorption line spectrum of the Sun, and the absorption lines tell us what elements are present in the outer layers

The most common element in the Sun is

• a. helium

• b. iron

• c. hydrogen

• d. nitrogen

The hottest zone in the Sun is the

• a. photosphere

• b. radiative zone

• c. core

• d. convection zone

The Sun’s photosphere is

• a. the central region where the energy of the Sun originates

• b. the part of the Sun from which the light comes that we see when we look at the Sun with our eyes

• c. the hottest region of the Sun

• d. the outermost layers of the Sun’s atmosphere

The hotter region directly above the Sun's visible surface is called the

• a. chromosphere

• b. photosphere

• c. corona

• d. ionization region

As you go upwards from the Sun's photosphere,

• a. the temperature decreases

• b. the density (number of atoms in a unit volume) decreases

• c. the layers get easier to see with the unaided eye

• d. only red light can emerge

The Sun's chromosphere and corona were discovered

• a. using the first telescopes Galileo built

• b. in the late 19th century through the use of a spectrograph

• c. during total eclipses of the Sun

• d. using spacecraft that orbited Venus, a planet with a better view of the Sun