Stars and Coronas

[darth_timon]

I'm trying to find out which area of a star's atmosphere carries the most energy- eg: is the corona a more dangerous area to sit in than say, the photosphere? I'm also trying to find out how much more powerful the corona is of a blue giant star, as opposed to our own sun. Does anyone know any good resources? I've tried google but so far no luck.

[Eternal_Freedom]

You could try an astrophysics textbook. I haven't had the in-de[th astro module in my degree yet, but I can tell you that whilst the corona can have temperatures in the millions of kelvin, it's not far off a vacuum in terms of density. The atoms are hot but there are sod all of them there.

The photosphere, at a mere 6000K, is far more dangerous!

[Feil]

This is sort of like asking whether it's more dangerous to be standing next to a kiloton bomb or a megaton bomb when it explodes, but aside from that, it's a relatively easy question. Outside the photosphere, the density of stellar material varies (roughly) with the inverse square of distance, as does the temperature and the velocity of solar ejecta. From the photosphere to the core, a star gets hotter and denser as you go down, although it's not as smooth a ride as outside of the star, since you have the radiation pressure of various kinds of fusion to contend with as you descend through the star's various layers. However, without fail, the closer to the core of a star you are, the hotter, denser, and more generally unpleasant it is to be unless you're a hydrogen atom with proud hopes of becoming part of an iron atom someday.

Needless to say, the deeper you go, the more elf magic you will need to keep yourself from being instantly torn apart into your constituent atoms (and then possibly fusioned into heavier elements).