06. How hot is the outside of the Sun? (A K2S Question)

From The Space Library

The surface temperature of the Sun is about 5800° Kelvin (K) or over 10,000° F. As one gets into the corona of the Sun, the temperatures can reach many millions of degrees K! The Kelvin temperature scale was created by William Thompson Kelvin in 1848 because he was very interested in creating an absolute temperature scale. His scale allowed the ultimate lowest temperature possible which he recorded as 0° K. Scientists now refer to this temperature as absolute 0, where there is virtually no molecular movement or energy expended by molecules. Today, the Celsius or Centigrade (C) scale references the Kelvin scale in such a way that 0° C equals 273° K and 100°C equals 373°K.

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Answer provided by Jim Zebrowski

Question and Answer extracted from the book Kids to Space - by Lonnie Schorer

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