The corona is the outer atmosphere of the Sun. It extends many thousands of kilometers (miles) above the visible “surface” of the Sun, gradually transforming into the solar wind that flows outward through our solar system. The material in the corona is an extremely hot but very tenuous plasma.

core

The inner layers are the Core, Radiative Zone and Convection Zone. The outer layers are the Photosphere, the Chromosphere, the Transition Region and the Corona.

chromosphere

The core of the sun is so hot and there is so much pressure, nuclear fusion takes place: hydrogen is changed to helium. Nuclear fusion creates heat and photons (light). The sun’s surface is about 6,000 Kelvin, which is 10,340 degrees Fahrenheit (5,726 degrees Celsius).

But even lava can’t hold a candle to the sun! At its surface (called the “photosphere”), the sun’s temperature is a whopping 10,000° F! That’s about five times hotter than the hottest lava on Earth. A temperature of 27 million degrees Fahrenheit is more than 12,000 times hotter than the hottest lava on Earth!

The sun is much hotter than lava. If lava were exposed to the sun, it would get so hot, it would evaporate from liquid to a gas, then explode from gas to plasma. Lava can reach a temperature of 1,250 degrees Celsius on Earth. The Sun Is much, much hotter than lava.

The shade of blue of this rock is closer to gun-metal and is probably caused by the refractive index of the glass. Eventually, with exposure to the elements, the color of the rock turns to black. As older lava flows weather, the minerals in the rocks oxidize and often turn to clay minerals.

The true color of Kawah Ijen’s lava is orange-red and results from thermal emission of light known as black-body radiation. At much higher temperatures, around 6000°C and up, black-body emission is distinctly blue, but this is much, much hotter than any magma can achieve naturally on Earth.

It may look like a scene from another planet or some high-tech Hollywood special effects – but this volcano venting bright blue flames is a real, rarely-seen phenomenon of nature. The glowing, electric-blue flames are caused by combustion of sulfuric gases.

As the gases are exposed to oxygen in the air, the lava ignites them into brilliant blue flames. In fact, there is so much sulfur that it sometimes flows down the rock face as it burns, which is what gives the impression of spilling blue lava.

Then the exposed lava cools and hardens. Despite their ubiquity all over Hawaii’s Big Island, it’s rare for someone to actually fall into a lava tube, experts have said. But it can happen. And on Monday, police said it happened to an elderly man — in his own backyard.

You might burst into flames and burn when you hit the lava/magma’s surface (depending on the type, lava’s temperature ranges from approximately 1,200 to 2,200 degrees). You might also burn before you hit the lava/magma due to the radiant heat.

Vesuvius volcano