How hot is the Sun?

Temperatures of the Sun's layers in degrees Kelvin (ISAS/JAXA)

Temperatures of the Sun's layers in degrees Kelvin.

ISAS/JAXA

The Sun is extremely hot! The center of the Sun is at least 10 million degrees. The “surface” of the Sun (what we see) is only 5800 degrees Kelvin (~10,000 Fahrenheit) This is cool for the Sun, but is actually about 16 times hotter than boiling water (ouch!). 

The outer atmosphere of the Sun, which we don't normally see without special instruments, gets extremely hot again, about 1.5 to 2 million degrees. These huge temperature changes are very interesting to scientists.

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