Rare spiral sunspot
NSO/AURA/NSF · Download full size image
Rare spiral sunspot
This picture of an unprecedented spiral-shaped sunspot was captured by National Solar Observatory astronomers on February 19th 1982, using the Kitt Peak Vacuum Telescope. Sunspots are normally seen as irregularly shaped dark holes. This spiral sunspot had a diameter of approximately 50000 miles - about six times the diameter of the Earth - and held its shape for about two days before it broke up and changed its form. Posted on: 28 Feb, 2005
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