The layer of the Sun's atmosphere between the photosphere and corona, appearing reddish during solar eclipses due to hydrogen emission. This region is characterized by increasing temperature with altitude and dynamic, spiky structures called spicules.
From Greek 'chroma' meaning 'color' and 'sphaira' meaning 'sphere.' The name was coined in 1868 by English astronomer Norman Lockyer, who noticed the reddish color of this layer during solar eclipse observations, caused by hydrogen alpha emission.
The chromosphere defies our everyday experience of temperature - while you'd expect it to get cooler as you move away from the Sun's hot surface, it actually gets hotter, reaching 20,000°C compared to the photosphere's 5,500°C! This temperature mystery is one of the biggest puzzles in solar physics, and scientists think magnetic waves might be pumping energy into this layer.
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