Sunspots are temporary features on the Sun's photosphere that appear as dark spots compared to the surrounding regions. They're areas of intense magnetic activity that are cooler than the surrounding areas - hence the reduced brightness. -- Gear: Nikon D5, Nikon 70-200 FL at 400mm, f/8.
Sunspots are temporary features on the Sun's photosphere (the visible surface) that appear as dark spots compared to the surrounding regions. They're areas of intense magnetic activity that are cooler than the surrounding areas - hence the reduced brightness. Sunspots can vary greatly in size. Smaller ones can be about 1,500 kilometers in diameter, about the size of a small country, while larger sunspots can be up to 50,000 kilometers in diameter, nearly four times the diameter of the Earth. Although sunspots are cooler than the surrounding areas of the Sun, they are still extremely hot. The average temperature of a sunspot's central dark region, or umbra, is about 3,800 Kelvin, compared to the surrounding photosphere, which averages about 5,500 Kelvin. Sunspots are crucial to understanding the Sun's solar cycles, which typically last about 11 years. They can affect space weather, which in turn can affect satellite communications and navigation systems on Earth. Sunspots are also associated with solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can send streams of charged particles toward Earth. These events can produce beautiful auroras, but if they are strong enough, they can also disrupt our power grids and pose a radiation risk to astronauts in space. Despite these potential dangers, the occurrence of sunspots and related solar activity is a normal part of the Sun's life cycle. For astronomers and stargazers, observing sunspots provides valuable insight into the complex and dynamic magnetic activity of our Sun.
