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Why does the sun have such a clear boundary, in this photo? Is there an actual surface of stuff where matter changes phase or density, and over what kind of distance does that change happen?


More or less, yes - the googlable term for it is 'photosphere'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosphere

there's also a bit of an illusion of scale, you're looking at bumps and protrusions that are multiple-earth-diameters-sized.


Thank you! I suppose the spherical shape around a gravity well, from where the majority of an object’a photons originate, is correctly called a photosphere.

I am currently standing on Earth’s photosphere!




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