Maryam_Astr

Sun Spots
//Above is a picture of a sunspot on the sun. The picture above shows the contrast betwen the sun and it's sunspots. Even though the sunspots look dark, when they are isolated from the sun, the sunspots are immensly bright.//

A sunspot is a region on the sun's photosphere that is marked by a lower temperature than its surroundings and has intense magnetic activity. Sun Spots often appear in groups. They are darker than the rest of the sun because they are thousands of degrees cooler. If a sunspot was isolated from the surrounding photosphere it would be brighter than an electric arc even though it is much cooler than the rest of the sun.

//Below is a picture of a 3000 volt electricity arc between nails.//

The sun has it's own magnetic field about five times stronger than the Earth's. The sun's magnetism controls the appearance of sunspots. The sun spins about once a month. Each magnetic field line is tied into the fabric of the sun. As the sun turns the field gets more and more wound up and distorted. Sunspots form where the field loops out through the surface. In the end the twisted pattern breaks down and a new, regular field takes over. This whole process takes about 11 years, the length of the sunspot cycle.

//Above is a picture showing the sunspot cycle from the year 1600 to the year 2000.//

At sunspot minimum there are very few spots appearing near the sun's equator. Induvidual spots last a few weeks at most, but the overall number of spots and the places they appear, both change as the cycle progresses. New spots come at high latitudes both north and south. After a few years, the number of spots appearing reaches a peak. and they are mostly in bands about 20 degrees north and south of the equator. Then activity declines until the whole natural cycle reccurs once more.

//Below is a video with pictures to help explain the text above.// media type="file" key="mbka_sunspot_cycle.wmv"

Glossary:
__Sunspots:__ Sunspots are dark spots, some as large as 50,000 miles in diameter that move across the photosphere contracting and expanding as they go.

__Sunspot Cycle:__ Sunspot numbers rise and fall with an irregular cycle with a length of approximately 11 years. These cycles are called the Sunspot cycle.

__Magnetic Field:__ A magnetic field is a field of magnetic force lines, usually referred to here as the pattern of magnetic force emanating from surrounding the sun or any of the planets.

__Photosphere:__ A photosphere is the luminous visible surface of the sun, being a shallow layer of strongly ionized gases.

__Electric Arc:__ An electric arc is an electrical breakdown of a gas which produces an ongoing plasma discharge, resulting from a current flowing through normally nonconductive media such as air.

Sources:
"The Sun" RedShift 3. CD-ROM. London: Maris Multimedia, LTD., 1998.

Wikipedia contributors, "Sunspot." __Wikipedia__. 2 June 2008. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 4 Jun 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sunspot&oldid=216725755.

Wikipedia contributors, "Electric arc." __Wikipedia__. 13 May 2008. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 4 Jun 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Electric_arc&oldid=212188496.

Wanner, Noel. "Introduction." __Sunspots__. 29 January 2002. Center for Extreme Ultraviolet Astrophysics. 4 Jun 2008 http://www.exploratorium.edu/sunspots/index.html.

Brand, Gary. " THE METAPHYSICAL SUN - PATH TO UNITY." __Gary Brand Astrology__. 19 May 2008. 4 Jun 2008 http://garybrandastrology.com/articles/echo/MetaphysicalSun6-10-2007.html.

Lexico Publishing Group, LLC, "photosphere." __Dictionary.com__. 4 June 2008. Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. 4 Jun 2008 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/photosphere.