[nnf]

There’s a lot of stuff in the photon’s path “out”. from NASA[0]:

> Once a photon of light is born, it travels at a speed of 300,000 km/sec until it collides with a charged particle and is diverted in another direction. Because the density of the sun decreases by tens of thousands of times from its lead-dense core to its tenuous photosphere, the typical distance a photon can travel between charged particles changes from 0.01 cm at the core to 0.3 cm near the surface.

[0] https://sunearthday.nasa.gov/2007/locations/ttt_sunlight.php

[vlovich123]

I’ve always been bothered by this reasoning. Wouldn’t it be a different photon since a photon in the core is being absorbed and reemitted many many times through charged particles? So while the reaction that is providing the power is a long distance from the surface, the photons you’re seeing are from the surface and give you no information other than what’s happening on the surface of the sun.

[binary132]

Same. It seems like one of those numbers that’s dreamed up just for the sake of splashy “science” journalism.

[thebruce87m]

0.01cm is a much bigger distance than I would have guessed.