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The chromosphere (literally, "color sphere") is a thin layer of the Sun's atmosphere just above the photosphere, roughly 10,000 kilometers deep (approximating to, if a little less than, the diameter of the Earth). The chromosphere is more visually transparent than the photosphere. The name comes from the fact that it has a reddish color, as the visual spectrum of the chromosphere is dominated by the deep red H-alpha spectral line of hydrogen. The coloration may be seen directly with the naked eye only during a total solar eclipse, where the chromosphere is briefly visible as a flash of color just as the visible edge of the photosphere disappears behind the Moon.

Without special equipment the chromosphere cannot normally be seen due to its being washed out by the overwhelming brightness of the photosphere. It can be seen clearly through special narrow-band optical filters tuned to the H-alpha spectral line, and many observatories routinely observe the chromosphere using this technique, which displays filaments quite clearly. Filaments (and prominences, which are filaments viewed from the side) are the source of many coronal mass ejections and hence are important to prediction of space weather.

Photo taken by Luc Viatour during the French 1999 eclipse

The most common solar feature within the chromosphere are Spicules, long thin fingers of luminous gas which appear like the blades of a huge field of fiery grass growing upwards from the photosphere below. Spicules rise to the top of the chromosphere and then sink back down again over the course of about 10 minutes.

Another feature found in the chromosphere are fibrils, horizontal wisps of gas similar in extent to spicules but with about twice the duration.

Finally, solar prominences rise up through the chromosphere from the photosphere, sometimes reaching altitudes of 150,000 kilometers. These gigantic plumes of gas are the most spectacular of solar phenomena, aside from the less frequent solar flares.

Above the chromosphere of some stars there is a so-called transition region, where the temperature increases rapidly to the hot corona, which forms the outermost part of the atmosphere.

See the flash spectrum of the solar chromosphere (Eclipse of March 7th, 1970).

The Sun v • d • e
Structure: Solar Core - Radiation Zone - Convection Zone
Atmosphere - Photosphere - Chromosphere - Transition region - Corona
Extended Structure: Termination Shock - Heliosphere - Heliopause - Heliosheath - Bow Shock
Solar Phenomena: Sunspots - Faculae - Granules - Supergranulation - Solar Wind - Spicules
Coronal loops - Solar Flares - Solar Prominences - Coronal Mass Ejections
Moreton Waves - Coronal Holes
Other: Solar System - Solar Variation - Solar Dynamo - Heliospheric Current Sheet - Solar Radiation - Solar Eclipse