Compared to the Sun's 865,000-mile diameter, how thick is the photosphere layer?
Answer
Only about 250 miles thick
The visible surface layer, the photosphere, is remarkably thin when compared to the overall scale of the Sun. While the Sun boasts an immense diameter of approximately 865,000 miles, the actual depth of the layer from which most visible light escapes is estimated to be only about 250 miles thick, or just a few hundred kilometers. This thinness is so negligible that if the Sun were scaled down to the size of a standard beach ball, the photosphere would be thinner than the paint coating on that ball, emphasizing that the visible 'surface' is just a minuscule fraction of the star's total volume.
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