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Individual sunspots or groups of sunspots may last anywhere from a few days to a few months, but eventually decay. Sunspots expand and contract as they move across the surface of the Sun, with diameters ranging from 16 km (10 mi) [3] to 160,000 km (100,000 mi). [4] Larger sunspots can be visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope. [5]
The best information today comes from SOHO (a cooperative project of the European Space Agency and NASA), such as the MDI magnetogram, where the solar "surface" magnetic field can be seen. As each cycle begins, sunspots appear at mid-latitudes, and then move closer and closer to the equator until a solar minimum is reached.
Sunspots are relatively dark areas on the Sun's radiating 'surface' (photosphere) where intense magnetic activity inhibits convection and cools the Photosphere. Faculae are slightly brighter areas that form around sunspot groups as the flow of energy to the photosphere is re-established and both the normal flow and the sunspot-blocked energy ...
Solar cycles are nearly periodic 11-year changes in the Sun's activity that are based on the number of sunspots present on the Sun's surface. The first solar cycle conventionally is said to have started in 1755. The source data are the revised International Sunspot Numbers (ISN v2.0), as available at SILSO. [1]
You might see sun spots on your face after spending time outdoors. Dermatologists share tips to treat them at home and how to prevent more sun damage.
The modern understanding of sunspots starts with George Ellery Hale, who linked magnetic fields and sunspots. Hale suggested that the sunspot cycle period is 22 years, covering two polar reversals of the solar magnetic dipole field. Horace W. Babcock proposed in 1961 a qualitative model for solar dynamics. [1]
Many photos of Monday's solar eclipse managed to catch bright spots along the Sun's corona. An astronomer explains what people were seeing.
Sun spots would have covered 5–30% of the surface. [49] The rotation rate was gradually slowed by magnetic braking , as the Sun's magnetic field interacted with the outflowing solar wind . [ 50 ] A vestige of this rapid primordial rotation still survives at the Sun's core, which has been found to be rotating at a rate of once per week; four ...