A friend of mine posted a note on the email list of our astronomy club saying that we all should look at the Sun today, it was covered with spots! So I got out one of my telescopes, one that I can use to photograph the Sun, in addition to just viewing it, and I took a look. There were more sunspots on the face of the Sun than I have ever seen! Many of them were tiny spots called "pores" but there were plenty of larger ones all over the surface. The black ones with a gray area surrounding it include the "umbra" or the black part and the gray area is called the "penumbra."
Sunspots are caused by powerful magnetic flux that break through the surface of the Sun, and because they are so powerful, they slow down the convection on the surface of the Sun, and thus sunspots are cooler areas on the surface. Cooler is a relative term - the black center of a sunspot runs from 5000 to 7500 degrees F. The surrounding lighter surface is closer to 10,000 degrees F. What an amazing thing to see this unusual display on the Sun's surface. Don't forget to click on each photo to see more detail.
3 comments:
Wow. Thanks for sharing your photos and knowledge.
Joan
How amazing to be able to photograph from that far away, even with a telescope. Interesting science lesson on the sun as well. Trace
Good thing that you got a "heads up" about taking a look at the sun. These photos are amazing because you can see these spots so clearly! betsey
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