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Last Post 10/25/2019 11:37 AM by Mitzi Adams

temperature of sun

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Alix

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10/25/2019 11:08 AM
How is it possible to measure the temperature of the sun? It's seems like it would be impossible to get close enough to measure it, so how do we know?

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Mitzi Adams

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Posts:101

10/25/2019 11:37 AM
One way that we know is by looking at the spectrum of light coming from the Sun. We know from the laboratory, what temperatures are required to produce certain spectra. So, if we detect those spectra in the atmosphere of the Sun, we know the temperature. To know the temperature in the core of the Sun, physics theory was required. In order to fuse hydrogen to helium, the temperature must be 15 million Kelvin.