Latest Sunspot Stories
redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports - Your Universe Online While 2013 is supposed to be the year of Solar Max - the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle - the relatively low solar activity recorded thus far has led experts to conclude that an unusual phenomenon has occurred. This most recent solar cycle has had not one but two peaks. According to NASA, sunspot numbers during the months of January and February 2013 were well below values recorded back in 2011. Furthermore, they report that...
NASA As magnetic fields on the sun rearrange and realign, dark spots known as sunspots can appear on its surface. Over the course of Feb. 19-20, 2013, scientists watched a giant sunspot form in under 48 hours. It has grown to over six Earth diameters across but its full extent is hard to judge since the spot lies on a sphere not a flat disk. The spot quickly evolved into what's called a delta region, in which the lighter areas around the sunspot, the penumbra, exhibit magnetic fields...
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A NASA suborbital telescope has given scientists the first clear evidence of energy transfer from the sun's magnetic field to the solar atmosphere or corona. This process, known as solar braiding, has been theorized by researchers, but remained unobserved until now. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Researchers were able to witness this phenomenon in the highest resolution images ever taken of the solar...
NASA's Magnificent Solar Images on Display in New Interactive Exhibit OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Touch the Sun," a new interactive exhibition utilizing stunning near-real-time images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, will open at Chabot Space & Science Center on January 18(th) launching a four-day weekend full of solar astronomy related activities. The central feature of the exhibition is a 90-inch LCD screen that displays near-real-time...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online The sun is revving up and preparing for a new cycle next year, reaching solar maximum during the summer and fall months of 2013. Our star goes through 11-year cycles, roughly. Some cycles can last as long as 14 years or as brief as nine. Despite what the cycle's name suggest, solar storms could be mild during a solar maximum, or severe during a minimum. The sun's cycle is marked from minimum to minimum, making the maximum mark...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Australians will have the privilege of witnessing a total solar eclipse about an hour after sunrise on November 14. The eclipse will be visible from the northeastern Australia coast, along the Great Barrier Reef, during which astronomers will be working on scientific observations. Jay Pasachoff, Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy at Williams College, will be viewing his 56th solar eclipse, along with colleagues and students,...
For over 15 years Dr Ian Johnson of Molescreen has been removing pre-cancerous sunspots from patients using Photo Dynamic Therapy. Having seen how successful it has been he has decided to launch the service to the skin cancer capital of the world, Brisbane in Queensland,Australia. Brisbane,Queensland,Australia (PRWEB) September 06, 2012 Molescreen,a specialised Skin Cancer treatment and removal clinic in Brisbane,Queensland is now launching an extension of their current services to...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Scientists have long suspected that the Sun's 11-year cycle influences climate of certain regions on Earth. Records of average, seasonal temperatures do not date back far enough to confirm any patterns, though. An international team of researchers, armed with a unique proxy, show that unusually cold winters in Central Europe are related to low solar activity – when sunspot numbers are minimal. Germany's Rhine River freezing is the...
New research shows that other sun-like stars in the universe can send off flares much larger than those seen on our sun. Solar flares are the result of broken magnetic-field loops as they pass through sunspots. As these loops become twisted and contorted, the flares occur, sending enormous amounts of charged particles, energy and radiation outward. So far, the largest solar flare ever measured on our sun happened on September 1, 1859, by British astronomer Richard Carrington. He simply...
Hydrogen molecules may act as a kind of energy sink that strengthens the magnetic grip that causes sunspots, according to scientists from Hawaii and New Mexico using a new infrared instrument on an old telescope. "We think that molecular hydrogen plays an important role in the formation and evolution of sunspots," said Dr. Sarah Jaeggli, a recent University of Hawaii at Manoa graduate whose doctoral research formed a key element of the new findings. She conducted the research with Drs....
Latest Sunspot Reference Libraries
Solar Maximum -- The Sun, a roiling ball of plasma, occupies its place in space approximately 93 million miles from Earth. Though it seems simple to inhabitants of this planet -- the Sun shines, giving light and heat -- the processes occurring in the Sun are so complex that many scientists devote their careers to just one aspect of solar activity. Changes in the activity of the Sun particularly engage solar scientists. Whether fluctuations in the solar magnetic field, expulsions of...
Sunspot -- A sunspot is a region on the Sun's surface (photosphere) that is marked by a lower temperature than its surroundings, and intense magnetic activity. Although they are blindingly bright, at temperatures of roughly 5000 Kelvin, the contrast with the surrounding material at some 6000 Kelvin leaves them clearly visible as dark spots. Interestingly, if they were isolated from the surrounding photosphere they would be brighter than an electric arc. History Apparent references...
