about 2,500 to 3,000 kilometers to the corona. Temperatures in the chromosphere range from about 5,800 to 1 million degrees Kelvin.
The mottling pattern is caused by the clumping of hotter gases in the chromosphere. In part, the clumping results from the complex pattern of magnetic fields in this portion of the SunΓÇÖs atmosphere. The enormous loop on the side of the Sun is also caused by magnetic fields in the chromosphere. The loop is a ΓÇ£prominence,ΓÇ¥ a giant cascade of gas hurled as high as 400,000 kilometers. Against the solar disk, prominences appear dark and are called filaments. Prominences consist of ΓÇ£plasma,ΓÇ¥ or hydrogen that has been heated to a point where it is singly ionized; ionization gives hydrogen atoms a
