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The surface, or photosphere, of the sun is about 10,000° Fahrenheit (5,500° Celsius). Cool, dark areas of magnetic disturbance that erupt on the photosphere, called sunspots, are only about 6,700° Fahrenheit (4,000° Celsius).

The layer of the sun's atmosphere that lies just beyond the photosphere, called the chromosphere, is only about 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) thick. Where it meets the photosphere, the chromosphere is about 7,800° Fahrenheit (4,300° Celsius). The temperature rises throughout the chromosphere. Where the chromosphere merges with the sun's outermost atmospheric layer, the corona, it is about 180,000° Fahrenheit (100,000° Celsius). Temperatures rise to 3,600,000° Fahrenheit (2,000,000° Celsius) in the part of the corona that's farthest from the sun.

The sun is hottest at its center—about 27,000,000° Fahrenheit (15,000,000° Celsius)!

Sources: Abell, George O. Realm of the Universe, 5th ed., pp. 225-28; Asimov, Isaac. Isaac Asimov's Guide to Earth and Space, pp. 159-61; Moore, Patrick. Atlas of the Solar System, p. 19

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