Just How Hot is the Sun? Hotter Than Hot.

Universe Today publisher Fraser Cain explains just how hot the Sun is. Turns out, the Sun’s temperature varies depending on what part of the Sun one is talking about: the core, middle, surface or atmosphere. The hottest natural place in the solar system is the Sun’s core, reaching temperatures of 15 million degrees Celsius. In the middle, made up of the radiative zone and the convective zone, temperatures begin to cool, ranging from 7 million to 2 million degrees Celsius. When you get to the surface of the Sun, you’ll find the coolest temperatures at around 5,500 degrees.

As you move away from the Sun, through its atmosphere, temperatures rise again. The first zone is the chromosphere, with temperatures back up to 20,000 degrees, then the Sun’s corona, which stretches millions of kilometers into space. In the corona, temps rise up to around 10 million degrees. Scientists are unsure why the temps outside of the Sun are hotter than those at the surface, but there are two competing theories: (1) waves of energy are released from the Sun’s surface and drive up the temps or (2) or the Sun’s magnetic field releases energy into the corona as magnetic currents collapse and reconnect.

We’re not sure which region of the Sun is required to birth Nuclear Man, and unfortunately Cain provides no answer.