TODAYS TOPIC-WHAT IS A SUNSPOT?

Seeing over 60,000 people a year with my solar telescopes has taught me several things about the level
of scientific understanding of the Sun in our country. Its almost non-existent, unfortunately Almost
without exception, I get asked the same set of questions at every event.

Anyone who has met me in person can tell you that I love to talk about science, especially the Sun so I
am never at a loss for creative new ways to try and answer these questions in terms the average person
(like me) can understand.

Generally peoples attention span after asking a question is about 20 seconds before they go on to
something else and trying to explain what a Sunspot is in 20 seconds is certainly daunting. I dont want
to spread misinformation by over simplifying it but I have to condense it down to something that can be
spouted out in about the same time as a punchline on the Daily Show or folks just lose interest.

My typical response at a crowded public event is Its a cooler area on the Suns surface caused by
magnetic interactions. I always yearn for more time so that people can fully grasp how amazingly
beautiful and dynamic the Suns magnetic ferocity is but alas, I generally dont get the opportunity.

What is a Sunspot? cannot be fully answered in 20 seconds or even in 20 years with our current
understanding. We know a lot about them but no one knows for sure all the details of what a sunspot is
and anyone who says they do is mistaken.

Heres how I explain it. I may be way off base but this is my understanding from watching them for years
and studying all the available data.

The Sun, as covered in previous topics, is a giant ball of Hydrogen and Helium gas and plasma completely
governed by the four forces of nature. Electromagnetism is at the forefront of these forces as far as
observable features are concerned and sunspots are no different.

When the Suns magnetic field lines get twisted and tangled in a multipolar configuration (solar
maximum), it is quite common for these field lines to erupt through the Suns photosphere and cause a
host of observable phenomena.

Sometimes, several dozen of these highly energetic and strongly charged field lines share a common
polarity and a common highly localized base, or enrty/exit point in the Suns surface. When this happens
you end up with a large area (many times larger than the Earth sometimes) of similar polarity field lines
grouped together like an old sailors twisted rope. These lines become forced together through
unimaginably strong magnetic forces and create an area so large that the Suns normal convective flow
of energy cannot escape out of that area of the photosphere. It is very similar to trying to force a cork
into a fire hose ejecting water at full speed.

It is exactly the same as when you were in grammar school and tried to force two magnets together at
their North ends and they pushed away from each other. Imagine several million 10,000km high
magnets all being held together at their North ends and you standing in the center of this trying to send
an electrical signal out of it. Aint gonna happen

These spots become a lot cooler than the surrounding area and appear darker in our telescopes. Why,
because telescopes especially narrowband telescopes see light and where there is an absence of light, it
appears to be darker. This doesnt mean that there is a hole in the Sun like some news outlets would like
you to think, it just means that there is no light of that particular frequency exiting the area into your
telescope.

The spots are also recessed into the photosphere of the Sun as discussed last week in the topic The
Wilson Effect. Some say that this is unexplained but from my viewings it seems obvious to me that the
rest of the photosphere is raised higher than these cool areas because of the pressure of the exiting
convective cells. Of course, Im an amateur hobbyist like you so I am probably mistaken.

Spots are comprised of two distinct regions. The Umbra, is the dark central core of the spot and the
Penumbra, which is the usually associated gray area around the spot that appears to have distinct fibral
structures. The umbra indicates a vertical set of field lines and the penumbra indicates where these field
lines are at angles less than vertical around the edges of the spots. Some of the most beautiful sketches
and images of our star are of these penumbral areas. (see below)

Sunspots are always formed in pairs of opposite polarity and are almost always seen between 20-60
degrees latitude for some reason as of yet unexplained. It appears to be associated with the flow of
plasma in the underlying convective zone.

Sunspot groupings are almost always the source of large events on the Sun but sometimes they just sit
there and do nothing

Sunspots are magnificently vibrant features as well and they are constantly changing shape, splitting
apart of joining together and sometimes completely disappearing or re-appearing as they march across
the face of the Sun. This combined with the Suns rotation as discussed in previous topics can lead to
some enchanting natural ballets on the photosphere.

Sunspots generally appear only during periods of maximum magnetic disruption of the Suns poles (solar
maximum) and they can last for several solar rotations or form and be gone in just a few hours.

Folks, thank you for reading this topic! You dont have to invest much to safely view Sunspots in your
own backyard and watch the majesty of these features just like the ancient Chinese, Mayans or many
Europeans did during the renaissance. All it takes is a piece of white paper as a screen and a box with a
pinhole in it aimed at the Sun! Or you can do like my friends and invest a fortune in it to get every detail
possible out of the images Either way, youre a solar scientist.