However, during the Sun's active periods, the corona is evenly distributed over the equatorial and polar regions, though it is most prominent in areas with sunspot activity. During periods of quiet, the corona is more or less confined to the equatorial regions, with coronal holes covering the polar regions. The Corona is not always evenly distributed across the surface of the sun. The outer edges of the Sun's corona are constantly being transported away due to open magnetic flux generating the solar wind.Ī drawing demonstrating the configuration of solar magnetic flux during the solar cycle. Likely possibilities include induction by the Sun's magnetic field and sonic pressure waves from below (the latter being less probable now that coronae are known to be present in early-type, highly magnetic stars). The exact mechanism by which the corona is heated is still the subject of some debate. The corona is separated from the photosphere by the relatively shallow chromosphere. The corona is 10 −12 as dense as the photosphere, however, and so produces about one-millionth as much visible light. The Sun's corona is much hotter (by a factor of nearly 200) than the visible surface of the Sun: The photosphere's average temperature is 5800 kelvin compared to the corona's one to three million kelvin. The F-corona (F for Fraunhofer) is created by sunlight bouncing off dust particles. The E-corona (E for emission) contains abundant calcium and iron. The K-corona (K for continuum) interfaces directly with the chromosphere and is created by sunlight scattering off electrons.
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