&continuous=Like all hot and dense objects, the Sun emits a continuous spectra of all of the colors of the rainbow, with no dark gaps and missing colors. 
White is the presence of all colors of light. Black is the total absence of visible light. 
A prism fans out individual colors of light, making it possible to see individual colors within white light.&

&emission=During an eclipse, you can see gases around the Sun without looking directly at the Sun. 
The emission spectra from just the corona is mostly dark with distinct lines of emitted color.  
From the Earth viewpoint, you see light emitted from the corona, not light emitted from the Sun that radiates outward. 
These specific lines of color are emitted when electrons jump downward in their orbits around the nuclei of atoms. 
Both absorption and emission spectra tell us about the composition the Sun.&

&absorption=If we look into the Sun and observe the spectra, we see a mostly complete spectra with distinct and dark lines of missing color. 
The lines of missing color are very specific wavelenghts of light that have been absorbed by gases around the Sun. 
The absorption spectra of 574 dark lines was discovered by optician Joseph von Fraunhofer in 1814. 
He did not know it at the time, but light at a specific wavelength is absorbed each time an electron makes a specific upward jump in its orbit around the nuclei of an atom.&