AN

INTRODUCTION
TO
ASTROPHYSICS
DR. JIMIN GEORGE
 “Remember to look up at the stars and not
down at your feet. Try to make sense of what
you see and wonder about what makes the
universe exist. Be curious. And however
difficult life may seem, there is always
something you can do and succeed at.
.”

—Stephen Hawking
1 Stars
Distance to the stars - Stellar parallax, Brightness of the stars - The magnitude
scale, Colour and temperature of the stars - Blackbody radiation, The
classification of stars – Stellar spectra, The Hertzsprung–Russell Diagram,
Interior and Atmosphere of stars, The sun
2 Stellar evolution
Interstellar Dust and Gas, The Formation of Protostars, Pre-Main-Sequence
Evolution, Evolution on the Main Sequence stars, Late Stages of Stellar
Evolution, Post-Main-Sequence Evolution of Massive Stars, Supernovae,
Gamma-Ray Bursts, Cosmic Rays, White Dwarfs, The Chandrasekhar limit,
Neutron Stars, Pulsar
3 General relativity and Black holes
The General theory of relativity, the curvature of spacetime, the principle of
equivalence, the bending of light, Gravitational redshift and time dilation, The
Schwarzschild radius, A trip into the black hole, Mass range of black holes,
Tunnels in space time, Hawking radiation
4 Solar system
1. Planets and Moons, Asteroid belt, The Comets and Kuiper Belt Objects, Solar
system formation, atmosphere of planets, The terrestrial planets – Mercury,
Venus, earth and Mars, The giant planets – Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and
Neptune.
5 Galaxies
1. Classification of galaxies, The Milky way Galaxy – Morphology of the galaxy and
the galactic center, Galactic evolution – Interaction of galaxies and the formation
of galaxies. The structure of the universe - The Extragalactic Distance Scale, The
Expansion of the Universe and Clusters of Galaxies
 Astrophysics
❑ Astrophysics – Study of astronomical objects using Physics​

❑ Nearest astronomical object – Moon ​

➢ Distance to the moon ~ 1.3 light seconds = 1.3 seconds x 300000

km/second ~ 400000 kilometers = 4 lakh kilometers​

➢ Apollo-11 rockets sent by NASA to land Neil Armstrong and Edwin

Aldrin took 4 days reach the moon.​

➢ Chandrayaan-3 took 40 days to reach the Moon. This is because

Chandryan-3 orbited the earth many times before going to the moon.​

❑ Next nearest astronomical object – Venus​

➢ Distance to the Venus – 6 light minutes. ​

➢ It will take months for a rocket to reach Venus​

INTRODUCTION
What is Astrophysics ?
Where are we in the universe ?
What is our closest star ?
 Astrophysics
❑ Astrophysics – Study of astronomical objects using Physics​

❑ Nearest astronomical object – Moon ​

➢ Distance to the moon ~ 1.3 light seconds = 1.3 seconds x 300000

km/second ~ 400000 kilometers = 4 lakh kilometers​

➢ Apollo-11 rockets sent by NASA to land Neil Armstrong and Edwin

Aldrin took 4 days reach the moon.​

➢ Chandrayaan-3 took 40 days to reach the Moon. This is because

Chandryan-3 orbited the earth many times before going to the moon.​

❑ Next nearest astronomical object – Venus​

➢ Distance to the Venus – 6 light minutes. ​

➢ It will take months for a rocket to reach Venus​

❑ Farthest planet in the solar system – Neptune

➢ Distance to Neptune ~ 4 light hours​

➢ It will take around 15 years for rocket to reach Neptune​

❑ Nearest star in the night sky – Proxima Centauri

➢ Distance to Proxima Centauri ~ 4.2 light years​

➢ It will take more than 1 lakh years for a rocket to reach Proxima Centauri​

❑ Farthest star in the milky way galaxy is about 60000 light years away​

❑ How big is our galaxy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX3PIkbTQwQ&t=3s​

❑ Our nearest galaxy – Andromeda Galaxy​. Distance to Andromeda galaxy – 25

lakh light years​

❑ Farthest astronomical objects detected is 13 billion light years away!!

Solar System distance comparsion
 Hubble space telescope – Deep field image

Hubble extreme deep field image,

combining images taken over many
years.

Every dot in the image is a

galaxy!!!!

Contains 5500 galaxies

The image covers an area less

than 10% of the width of the full
Moon
 Fundamental Forces
❑ There are 4 fundamental forces in nature
What does each fundamental forces do ?
Strength and range of fundamental forces ?
 Gravitation
❑ Explained by Isaac Newton in 1687

❑ Gravitation is the reason for apple falling from the tree and moon orbiting the
earth

❑ Weight is the gravitational force acting on the body.

❑ Weight of a body on earth is given by,

 Gravitation
❑ By Newton’s second law, F = ma ➔ w = ma. We denote the acceleration due
to gravitational force as g, so w =mg.​

❑ On earth, g = 9.8 m/s2

❑ Acceleration due to gravity Depends on the mass and Radius of a planet

❑ Mass of an object is the same on all the planets but weight changes depending
on the acceleration due to gravity.

❑ If your mass is 100kg, weight on earth is w = mg = 100 x 9.8 = 980 Newton

❑ But on Moon g = 1.62 m/s2. So your weight would be w = mg = 100 x 1.62 =

162 N.
Walking on the Moon
Weight on other planets
 Numerical Problem - Gravity
❑ Calculate the acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the sun.

❑ Mass of the Sun = 2 x 1030 Kg

❑ Radius of the Sun = 696000 km

 Escape speed
❑How fast do you have to throw an object so that it doesn’t come back to the surface of
a planet/star ?

❑ Consider a particle of mass m that has an initial velocity v and is at a distance r from
the center of a planet/star of mass M . The total initial mechanical energy of the
particle (both kinetic and potential) is given by,

❑If the particle escapes the gravity of the planet and goes infinity, the final potential
energy is zero. In the case of minimum velocity to escape gravity, the final velocity will
also be zero. So final total mechanical energy is zero. Because of energy conservation,
the initial mechanical energy also have to be zero. So E=0.
 Numerical Problem – Escape velocity
❑ On Earth escape velocity =11.2 km/s.

❑ Calculate the escape velocity the surface of the Sun ?

❑ Mass of the Sun = 2 x 1030 Kg

❑ Radius of the Sun = 696000 km

01
STARS
 Distance in Astrophysics

❑ Distance units used in Astrophysics

➢ Light second, Light minute, Light hour and light years ( ly ). This is the
distance travelled by light for a given time

➢ Astronomical Unit (AU): 1 AU is the average distance between Earth

and the Sun. 1 AU = 1.496 x 1011 m ~ 8.3 light minutes.

➢ Parsec (pc): 1 pc ~ 3.26 light years = 206265 AU

 Distance to the stars – Stellar Parallax
❑ How are the distance to the stars measured directly ? Using
a technique called stellar parallax method. This uses
trigonometric triangulation. This method can be used only for
nearby stars.

❑ Stellar parallax:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwlMmJs1f5o&t=118s

❑ Stars are not moving much relative to the sun. So, from the
Sun a star will never move. Since the earth orbits around the
sun, looking from earth the nearby stars shift in position
compared to the very distant stars in the background. This
effect is called stellar parallax.

❑ Even for the nearest star the shift is so small that we cannot
see it with naked eye.
 Distance to the stars – Stellar Parallax
❑ To get maximum parallax we can do
two observations of the star 6 months
apart.

❑ Using sophisticated instruments, we

can measure the precise change in
angular position of the star from earth
6 months apart.

❑ As shown in Figure the parallax

angle p is half of the change in
angular position. Now using the
distance between earth and Sun as
1AU and using trigonometry we can
calculate the distance to the star, d
as,
 Distance to the stars – Stellar Parallax
❑ Using small angle approximation, tanp ~p.

❑ Using 1 radian = 57.2957795 degrees = 206264.806 arc seconds. Then we can use
p” in units of arcseconds instead of p in arcseconds.

❑ Defining a new unit of distance, the parsec (parallax-second, abbreviated pc), as 1

pc = 206264.806 AU = 3.0856776 × 1016 m = 3.26 light years. The distance
equation becomes,
 Distance to the stars – Stellar Parallax
❑ The maximum parallax angle will be given by our nearest star Proxima centaury,
and it is only 0.76 arcsec. That’s why we cannot see the parallax with our naked eye.

❑ So distance to Proxima centaury is 1/0.76 parsec = 1.315 parsec = 1.315 x 3.26 ly =

4.2 light years

❑ Since the parallax is so small Human beings couldn’t calculate it until the invention
of modern instruments.

❑ The first measurement of the distance to the stars was done by Bessel in 1838!!

❑ Hubble space telescope orbiting the earth can measure distance up to 10000 light
years (the distance to the center of our galaxy is ~ 26000 light years).
Distance to the stars – Stellar Parallax – Numerical Problem
Distance to the stars – Stellar Parallax – Numerical Problem
 Interstellar parallax
❑Here is a very rare measurement where you can actually see the parallax.
NASA’s new Horizon space craft took a picture of the Proxima centaury from
Beyond Pluto ( more than 40 AU away). So compared to the 1AU baseline
parallax from earth this is much bigger.
 Brightness of the stars

❑ Hubble space
telescope photo of
the night sky with
stars – Sirius,
Betelgeuse, Rigel,
Procyon, et.
 Brightness of the stars – Apparent magnitude
❑ Apparent brightness - The brightness of a star seen from earth is called apparent
brightness. The apparent brightness expressed in a magnitude scale is called
apparent magnitude.

❑ Stars were classified according their apparent magnitude using a scale from 1 to 6
by Hipparchus from 2nd century B.C. The magnitude-1 group was the brightest stars
and group-6 was the faintest stars.

❑ Using precise measurements, it was realized in the 19th century that the first
magnitude is about 100 times brighter that the sixth magnitude stars. So if B1 and
B6 denote the brightness of two stars which belong to first and sixth magnitude
𝐵1
scale, = 100
𝐵6

❑ It was also observed that the ratio of brightness between the stars of nearby
𝐵1 𝐵2 𝐵3 𝐵4 𝐵5
magnitude scales are equal, = = = = = a constant factor, x
𝐵2 𝐵3 𝐵4 𝐵5 𝐵6
❑ Since the ratio between adjacent scale is x, the ratio of scale 1 and 6 is,

❑ So the brightness of the stars whose apparent magnitudes differ by unity will differ
by a factor of 2.512

❑ If Bm and Bn are the brightness of two stars having magnitudes m and n,

❑ So,

❑Taking power of 10 on both sides,

 Apparent magnitude – Numerical problem

❑ What is the ratio in brightness between the Sun and the full Moon?

❑ The apparent magnitude of the Sun is −26.832, and the mean magnitude of
the full moon is −12.74
 Apparent magnitude – Numerical problem
❑ What is the ratio in brightness between the Sun and the full Moon?

❑ The apparent magnitude of the Sun is −26.832, and the mean magnitude of
the full moon is −12.74

❑ n-m = -12.74 – (-26.832) = 14.092

❑ Bm/Bn = 100.4 x 14.092 = 433311

❑ So the sun is 433311 times brighter than the Moon.

❑ On the magnitude scale Sun has the maximum magnitude at -26.83

❑ The faintest object detectable with a telescope are at around magnitude 30.

❑ The brightest star in the night sky is Sirius with a magnitude of -1.46.

❑ With the best dark sky, you can see up to magnitude 6.5 with the naked eye.

❑ There are 22 stars with magnitudes of between -1 and 1, making them the night
sky’s brightest stars.

❑ There are 71 stars of 2nd magnitude, 190 stars of 3rd magnitude, 610 of 4th
magnitude, 1,929 of 5th magnitude, and 5,946 of 6th magnitude.

❑ A total of 9000 stars can be seen with the naked eye

❑ Hubble space
telescope photo of
the night sky with
stars – Sirius,
Betelgeuse, Riegel,
Procyon, et.
❑Rigel, Betelgeuse are part of a
constellation called constellation
of Orion

❑A constellation is an area on the

sky in which a group of visible
stars forms a perceived pattern
or outline, typically representing
an animal, mythological subject,
or an object

❑ Constellation of Orion is one of

the 88 modern constellations; it
was among the 48
constellations listed by the 2nd-
century astronomer Ptolemy. It is
named for a mythological hunter
in Greek mythology.
Brightness of the stars – Absolute magnitude and Distance modulus
❑ The total energy emitted by a star per second is called the Luminosity (intrinsic
brightness) of the star ( Unit – Watts)

❑ The apparent magnitude of a star seen from earth depends on the luminosity of the
star and the distance from earth. The more the distance, the less the apparent
magnitude. The energy received from a star on earth per second per square meter
is called the radiant flux. Radiant flux and apparent magnitude are similar
quantities.

❑ Imagine a star of luminosity L surrounded by a huge

spherical shell of radius d. Then, the radiant flux, F,
measured at distance d is related to the star’s luminosity
by, F = L/4πd2. Denominator is the area of the sphere. The
radiant flux is inversely proportional to the square of the
distance from the star. This is known as the inverse
square law for light
❑ So if we know the distance, we can calculate the actual luminosity of the star from
the apparent magnitude.

❑ Absolute magnitude: Instead of Luminosity astronomers assigned a scale called

an absolute magnitude, M, to each star. This is defined to be the apparent magnitude
of a star if it were located at a distance of 10 parsec. Using this we can directly
compare the brightness of the stars.

❑ Consider a star with apparent magnitude m whose apparent brightness is Bm and it

is located at a distance of d. Now if the same star was located at a distance of D and
the apparent magnitude is BM , then the ratio of the two apparent brightness is,

❑ The brightness of the star is inversely proportional to the square of it’s distance. So
we get
❑ Take log on both sides, 2 log D – 2 log d = 0.4 (M-m).

❑ Simplify,

❑ If the distance measured is in parsecs and if we take D=10 parsecs, then by definition
M is the absolute magnitude. So the equation becomes,

❑ This is the fundamental relation between the apparent magnitude m, the absolute
magnitude M and the distance d of a star measured in parsecs.

❑ Distance Modulus: The quantity m – M depends only on the distance d to the star
from earth and is called the distance modulus. If we know distance modulus, we can
easily calculate the distance to the star.

❑ For many stars the absolute magnitude is known from observation and from that
information, the distance to the star can be easily calculated
Absolute magnitude – Numerical problem
Absolute magnitude – Numerical problem
❑ Since absolute magnitude
can be directly compared,
from the table you can see
that the absolute
brightness (luminosity) of
the sun is less than many
of the bright stars in the
night sky
 Colour and temperature of the stars– Black Body Radiation
❑ Anyone who has looked at the
constellation of Orion has noticed the
strikingly different colors of red
Betelgeuse and blue-white Rigel

❑ These colors reveal the difference in

the surface temperatures of the two
stars.

❑ Betelgeuse has a surface temperature

of roughly 3600K. Rigel has a much
higher surface temperature of 13,000K

❑ High temperature stars are blue in

color and very low temperature stars
are red in color
❑ Any object with a temperature above absolute zero emits light of all wavelengths
but each wavelength at different amount. For example, Sun emits light at all
wavelengths, but maximum amount is emitted in visible region.

❑ An ideal emitter is an object that absorbs all of the light energy incident upon it and
reradiates this energy. Because an ideal emitter reflects no light, it is known as a
blackbody, and the radiation it emits is called blackbody radiation.
❑ Stars and planets are nearly ideal
blackbodies. The Figure shows that a
blackbody of temperature T emits a
continuous spectrum with some energy
at all wavelengths and that this
blackbody spectrum peaks at a
wavelength λmax .

❑ The relation between λmax and T is

known as Wien’s displacement law,
Check your knowledge question– Black Body Radiation
❑ A blacksmith is working on a piece of metal. Where is the temperature at it’s
highest ? At the yellow glowing spots or deep red glowing spots ?
Numerical problem – Black body radiation
Numerical problem – Black body radiation
Refresh your memory – Electromagnetic spectrum
 Luminosity and temperature of a star
❑ Blackbody radiation graph also shows that as the temperature of a blackbody
increases, it emits more energy per second at all wavelengths.

❑ Experiments performed in 1879 by Josef Stefan showed that the luminosity, L, of a

blackbody of area A and temperature T (in kelvins) is given by

❑ This is called Stefan’s law. So the

luminosity (intrinsic brightness) of stars
increases with its size (more surface area)
and surface temperature.

❑ Later Boltzmann found the value of the

constant, σ in the equation and the
equation is now know as Stefan-
Boltzmann equation.
❑ For a spherical star of radius R and surface area A = 4πR2, the Stefan–Boltzmann
equation takes the form

❑Combining this with the inverse square law, Flux = L/4πR2 , shows that at the
surface of the star (r = R), the surface flux is
Numerical Problem- Luminosity and temperature of a star
Numerical Problem- Luminosity and temperature of a star
 The color index
❑ Bolometric magnitude : The apparent and absolute magnitudes measured over
all wavelengths of light emitted by a star, are known as bolometric magnitudes and
are denoted by mbol and Mbol, respectively.

❑ The color of a star may be precisely determined by using filters that transmit the
star’s light only within certain narrow wavelength bands. For this a standard system
called standard UBV system is used. In UBV system, a star’s apparent magnitude is
measured through three filters and is designated by three capital letters U, B and V :

➢ U, the star’s ultraviolet apparent magnitude, is measured through a filter

centered at 365 nm with an effective bandwidth of 68 nm.

➢ B, the star’s blue apparent magnitude, is measured through a filter centered at

440 nm with an effective bandwidth of 98 nm.

➢ V, the star’s visual apparent magnitude (green and yellow), is measured

through a filter centered at 550 nm with an effective bandwidth of 89 nm.
❑ The UBV system provides two color indices,

➢ U−B color index is the difference between its ultraviolet and blue magnitudes

➢ B−V color index is the difference between its blue and visual magnitudes

❑ We have the equation connecting absolute magnitude, apparent magnitude and

distance,
m – M = 5 log (d) -5

➔ m = M + 5 log(d) -5

For blue magnitude, B = MB + 5 log(d) – 5

For Visual magnitude, V = MV + 5 log(d) – 5

The B –V color index, B-V = MB – MV

❑ So, the color index is independent of the distance to the star.
❑ Since less B value means more blue light emission, a star with a smaller B − V color
index is bluer than a star with a larger value of B − V.

➢ B-V color index of Rigel is -0.66 and that of Betelgeuse is +1.85, so Rigel
emits more blue light compared to Betelgeuse

❑ Since more blue emission compared to visual means more surface temperature.
Stars with smaller B-V color index is hotter than stars with larger value of B-V

➢ Rigel’s surface temperature is 12000K and that of Betelgeuse is 3600K

❑ From the color index we can find the surface temperature of any star

❑ Bolometric correction: The difference between a star’s bolometric magnitude and its
visual magnitude is called its bolometric correction (BC):
Numerical problem - The color index
 Classification of stars – Stellar spectra
❑ It was thought that stars can be classified based on which material it is mostly made of.

❑ When light passes through a material, let’s say hydrogen then some of the wavelengths
will be absorbed by hydrogen and when analyzed with a spectroscope on earth these
wavelength will be missing, ( a dark band will be seen at the missing wavelengths).
This is called absorption spectra.

❑ So using absorption spectra, we can understand the composition of stellar atmosphere.

❑ When the absorption spectra of stars were first studied, it was realized that stars
could be classified into several different types, called spectral classes.

❑ At first, the ‘Harvard Classification System’ was proposed. In this system, the stars
were classified according to the strength of the hydrogen absorption lines in their
spectra and were lettered alphabetically. Class A corresponds to the stars having the
strongest hydrogen lines, class B the next strongest, and so on.

❑ It was later realized that the types of spectra varied because of stellar surface
temperature.

❑ We now list the spectral types of stars in order of decreasing temperature, they are
no longer in alphabetical order. In order of decreasing temperature, the spectral types
are O B A F G K M.

❑ The spectral types can be remembered by the mnemonic: Oh, Be, A Fine
Girl/Guy, Kiss Me.
❑ O star is the hottest and M star is the coolest. ( So O stars are more blue in color
and M stars are red in color)

❑ Our Sun belongs to spectral class G

❑ Each class is subdivided into 10 subclasses. For example, the hottest B stars are BO,
followed by B1, B2, B3... B9.

❑ Today we know that the stars are nearly uniform in composition, being composed
mainly of hydrogen and helium.

❑ The Indian astrophysicist M. N. Saha suggested that the differences in stellar spectra
are principally due to different surface temperatures of stars

❑ M-type star is the coolest. The gases occur in the form of molecules and molecular
band spectra are observed. The spectra of K and M stars are dominated by
molecular bands because they do not have sufficient temperatures to split molecule
into atoms. With the increase in temperature, molecules break into neutral
atoms and ions. Metals have low ionization potential. Thus, ionized metal lines are
dominant in F and G type stars. On further increase of temperature, hydrogen is
excited to the first energy level, and the spectra of A type stars show hydrogen
lines. At extremely high temperatures, even helium is ionized. Therefore,
lines corresponding to ionized helium are present only in O — type stars.
Hertzsprung – Russel (H-R) diagram
❑ The Hertzsprung–Russell diagram (H–R
diagram) is a scatter plot of stars showing
the relationship between the stars'
absolute magnitudes or luminosities
versus their stellar classifications or
effective temperatures.
❑ Since the luminosity is related to
temperature and radius by (Stefan-
Boltzmann equation),

❑ So if two stars are of the same spectral

class but different Luminosity, then the star
with bigger luminosity has bigger radius.
❑ Most of the stars occupy the region in the
diagram along the line called the main sequence.
During this stage stars are fusing hydrogen in
their cores. Sun (G2) and Vega (A0) are main
sequence stars. More than 80% of the stars are
Main sequence stars.

❑ The giant stars occupy the region above the

lower main sequence, with the supergiants, such
as Betelgeuse(M2), in the extreme upper right-
hand corner.

❑ The white dwarfs (which, despite their name, lie

well below the main sequence at the left side.
Example Sirius-B (B0)
❑ Betelgeuse and Antares are
supergiants
 Interior and Atmosphere of stars
❑ Because of the huge mass, the gravitational force is
extremely high inside a star. This high gravitational field
is balanced by the pressure of nuclear reaction from the
star's core.

❑ Without the nuclear fusion in the core, a star would

collapse and without the gravitational force the star
would explode. So a star is a delicate balance between
gravitation force and the pressure from nuclear fusion.

❑ A star's core is at a temperature of millions of degree

Celsius and the surface is at thousands of degree
Celsius. The matter inside a star is in the form of
plasma ( electrons and ions)

❑ The main sequence stars converts hydrogen into

helium in it's core
❑ A typical star has many layers

❑ Core: This is where the nuclear fusion happens

❑ Radiative zone : Energy is transported via radiation

❑ Convection zone: Energy is primarily transported by

convection in this region. So this layer is not in a steady
state.

❑ Photosphere: Star’s outer shell from which light is

emitted

❑ Chromosphere: First layer of a stars atmosphere ( For

Sun this is around 5000 km in height)

❑ Corona: Outer most layer of a Star’s atmosphere

(Millions of kilometer into space)
 The Sun
❑ Radius ~ 695,000 kilometers (109 times that of Earth)

❑ Mass ~ 330,000 times that of Earth making (99.86% of the total mass of the Solar
System).

❑ Composition: hydrogen (~73%) and the rest is mostly helium (~25%), with much
smaller quantities of heavier elements, including oxygen, carbon, neon, and iron.

❑ Spectral class : G2

❑ HR- diagram position – Main sequence

❑ Age – 4.6 billion years

❑ Rotation about it’s own axis – with a period of ~ 28 days (Equator rotates Faster)
❑ Core: 25% of total radius, Temperature – 15 million kelvin, density ~ 150 times that of
water (150 g/cm3). Core is the sole energy source of the entire sun.

❑ The fusion rate in the core is in a self-correcting equilibrium: a slightly higher rate of
fusion would cause the core to heat up more and expand slightly against the weight of
the outer layers, reducing the density and hence reducing the fusion rate; and a slightly
lower rate would cause the core to cool and shrink slightly, increasing the density and
increasing the fusion rate and again reverting it to its present rate.

❑ Radiative zone : The radiative zone is the thickest layer of the sun, it consists of around
45% of radius. The temperature drops from approximately 7 million to 2 million kelvins
with increasing distance from the core. Density at the outer most layer of radiative zone
drops down to 0.1 g/cm3

❑ Convection zone: The Sun's convection zone extends from 0.7 solar radii to near the
surface. Here he density of the plasma is low enough to allow convective currents to
develop and move the Sun's energy outward towards its surface above. Once the
material diffusively and radiatively cools just beneath the photospheric surface,
its density increases, and it sinks to the base of the convection zone, where it again
picks up heat from the top of the radiative zone and the convective cycle continues

❑ Photosphere: This is the visible surface of the sun. At the photosphere, the temperature
drops to 5,700 K and the density to only 0.0002 g/cm3 ( much less than the density of
air on earth)

❑ Chromosphere: The temperature of the chromosphere increases gradually with

altitude, ranging up to around 20,000 K near the top

❑ Corona : Temperature can be up to 1 million kelvin but with very low density. Corona
has a bigger volume than the volume enclosed by the photosphere.

❑ Sunspot: Sunspots are visible as dark patches on the Sun's photosphere and
correspond to concentrations of magnetic field where the convective transport of heat
is inhibited from the solar interior to the surface. As a result, sunspots are slightly
cooler than the surrounding photosphere, so they appear dark. The Sun's magnetic
field leads to many effects that are collectively called solar activity. Solar flares and
coronal-mass ejections
❑ Sun’s corona can be
seen clearly with
naked eye during a
total solar eclipse
THANKS!

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