 A report in the Daily Mail characterized sunspot 1302 as a "behemoth" unleashing huge solar flares. Image by NASA, via Wikimedia Commons. Licensed Public domain |
The Sun SpotsSunspot Sunspot Temporary spots on the Sun's surface For other uses, see Sunspot (disambiguation). Sunspots are temporary spots on the Sun's surface that are darker than the surrounding area. They are regions of reduced surface temperature caused by concentrations of magnetic flux that inhibit convection. Sunspots appear within active regions, usually in pairs of opposite magnetic polarity.[2] Their number varies according to the approximately 11-year solar cycle. Top: active region 2192 in 2014 containing the largest sunspot of solar cycle 24[1] and active region 1302 in September 2011. Bottom: sunspot close-up in the visible spectrum and a large group of sunspots stretching about 320,000 km (200,000 mi) across. Individual sunspots or groups of sunspots may last anywhere from a few… (Source: Wikipedia)
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