Talk:Photosphere
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The sun's photosphere is often mistakenly referred to as the surface of the sun.
In reality however, the sun's photosphere is only a "liquid-like" plasma layer made of neon that covers the actual surface of the sun. That visible layer we see with our eyes is more commonly known as penumbral filaments. This visible neon plasma layer, as well as a thicker, deeper plasma layer of silicon, entirely covers the actual rocky, calcium ferrite surface layer of the sun. The visible photosphere covers the transitional region that is the actual surface of the sun, much as the earth's oceans cover most of the surface of the earth. In this case the sun's photosphere is very bright and we cannot see the darker surface features below without the aid of satellite technology.
The composition and mechanical inner workings of the sun beneath the visible photosphere have remained an enigma for thousands of years. There are a whole host of unexplained phenomena related to the sun's activities that still baffle gas model theorists to this day because they fail to recognize the existence of an iron alloy transitional layer that rests beneath the visible photosphere. Fortunately a host of new satellites and the field of heliosiesmology are starting to shed new light on this mysterious transitional layer of the sun that is located about 4800km beneath the visible photosphere. In addition, recent studies of solar wind suggest that solar wind also originates on the same transition layer under the photosphere as do the electrically charged coronal loops. NASA's SOHO satellite and the Trace satellite program have both imaged this transition layer of the sun that sits beneath the photosphere. These 21st century satellites and technologies now enable us to peer behind the outer plasma layers of the chromosphere and photosphere and allow us to study the rocky, calcium ferrite transitional layer with incredible precision.
The reason for the current confusion in gas model circles is simple. The SOHO, TRACE and YOHKOH satellites demonstrate that the sun is not simply a giant ball of gas as Galileo believed based on his limited observations through a common telescope. Just as Dr. Birkeland predicted, the sun has a solid, electrically conductive surface composed of iron ferrites beneath the liquid-like plasma layer of the photosphere. It has a solid and electrically conductive surface that is covered by a series of plasma layers, starting with calcium, silicon, neon, helium and finally a layer of hydrogen that ultimately ignites in the corona. This solid surface model of the sun the Birkeland experimented with in his lab can and does explain the behaviors of our own sun quite elegantly and offers us the best hope of deciphering the stone (in this case iron ferrite) tablet that will help us unlock the mysteries of our universe.