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Understanding Sunspots

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What is a Sunspot?

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The Sun’s Visible Surface

The Lower Atmosphere

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The Sun in Hydrogen-

The Upper Atmosphere

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A Typical Sunspot in

“White Light”

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Sunspot Detail

Sunspot Model

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Objects that are hotter are brighter. Which bulb is hotter? Whichis hotter, the sun’s surface or a sunspot? How do you know?

So, sunspots are way cool!

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But, what causes sunspots?

Like planet Earth, our Sun has a

strong magnetic field

Magnetic Winding

The sun rotates faster at its equator than at its poles. The sun’sstrong magnetic field gets wound up causing part of the fields to rupture the surface where they cause sunspots.

Magnetic fields make cool zones.

Fast-moving charged particles are deflected by magnetic fields.The magnetic fields of sunspots deflect hotter gases allowingonly cooler gases that experience less of this deflective force.

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The 11-Year Sunspot Cycle

Butterfly Diagram

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Associated with sunspots are flares…

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prominences, and…

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coronal mass ejections!!!

These causethe aurorasthat we seeon Earth.

Why do we have sunspots?

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Why do we have a sunspot cycle?

What does magnetism have to do withSunspots?