How Do Astronomers Learn About the Suns Interior?
Solar Core The Sun’s interior is exponentially more gaseous and dense than its outer layers, and does not have a defined boundary as do the rocky planets that surround it. Its well defined interior structure, however, is distinctly different from its outer envelope and transitional area, the tachocline. The Solar core, which makes up only 10% of the Sun’s volume but 40% of it’s mass, extends from the center to about 0.2 solar radii. Its temperature as the hottest point in the solar system is close to 13,600,000 kelvin (by contrast, the surface of the Sun is around 5,800 kelvin). The core of the sun rotates more quickly than the outer layer, which causes its electromagnetic field, much like the one that results from the rotation of Earth’s molten core against its outer rotation. Through most of the Sun’s life, the Sun’s core produces the majority of heat via fusion, which in turn heats the rest of the sun as it is transferred through many layers out towards the envelope, or photosphere,
