The Chromosphere
This is an
image of the Sun's chromosphere, from chromos, the Greek word for
color. This layer of the Sun can be detected with a telescope that looks
for the red light it gives off, called Hydrogen-alpha light. The
temperature of the chromosphere is
about 6000 to 50000 degrees C. In this image cooler features, like
filaments, appear darker because they
do not give off as much red light.
The chromosphere is a 2000 km thick layer of gas just above the
photosphere. The chromosphere is most
easily viewed by special telescopes that filter
out all other wavelengths of light from our Sun and only letting the red
light from the chromosphere through.
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Image Credit: NOAA/SEL/USAF