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At the end of the sun spot cycle3/23/2023 ![]() ![]() As the solar cycle progresses, the number of spots increases and they tend to disappear at higher latitudes and appear at lower latitudes (i.e., nearer the equator). Large spots - which may be large enough to sink many Earths in -may last for one or several solar-rotation periods of about a month each. ![]() These are more or less stationary on the Sun ’s surface, but appear to astronomers on the Earth to move because of the Sun ’s axial rotation. The solar cycleĪt the beginning of an active period in the solar cycle, a few sunspots appear at the higher latitudes (i.e., near the poles). As of October 2006, the Sun was near its minimum in sunspot activity, with the minimum expected sometime in 2007. The largest flare ever recorded was on November 3, 2003. This corresponds to the period of an overall solar-activity cycle whose other features include solar flares and prominences. Sunspot activity -the number of spots on the Sun at any one time -varies with a period of about eleven years. Their first mention in Western literature is in The Starry Messenger (1610) by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564 −1642). The largest of these spots are visible to the naked eye, having even been noted by Chinese astronomers since antiquity. When such features appear on other stars, they are called starspots. Caption by Michon Scott.Sunspots are relatively dark, temporary spots that appear on the Sun (or, sun) from time to time. NASA image and animation by Robert Simmon and Jesse Allen, based on data from Marshall Space Flight Center Solar Physics Group and the SOHO Michelson Doppler Imager Project. The flurry of sunspots starting in late October 2008 suggested the beginning of heightened activity, although sunspot forecasters pointed out that the peak of Solar Cycle 24 was still years away. The rapid flipping of the Sun’s magnetic pole affects the polarity of sunspots, helping scientists distinguish between sunspots belonging to different solar cycles.Īfter the appearance of the first sunspot associated with Solar Cycle 24 in January 2008, sunspot activity remained low, as it had for the previous year. Like the Earth, the Sun has a magnetic field, but the Sun’s field flips much more frequently than the Earth’s-usually at the peak of each sunspot cycle. As the cycle progresses, they begin appearing progressively closer to the solar equator. ![]() The first sunspots of a new cycle initially appear at high latitudes. Sunspot forecasters can distinguish old and new cycles by looking at two features of sunspots. The other four, however, showed characteristics of the emerging Solar Cycle 24. Starting on October 31, 2008, five sunspots appeared in quick succession, and progressed across the Sun’s surface over the next four days. Both phenomena are produced by turbulence in the Sun’s magnetic field. While sunspots are actually cooler regions on the Sun’s surface, faculae are hot spots that coincide with sunspots. Two dark sunspots appear in the upper right, along with faculae-bright areas that form around sunspots. The Michelson Doppler Imager acquired this image of the Sun on November 3, 2008. Sunspot activity remained minimal in the months that followed, but at the end of October 2008, another batch of sunspots appeared, most of them belonging to the new cycle. In January 2008, satellite imagery showed the beginnings of Solar Cycle 24. From 1755 to 2007, astronomers counted a total of 23 cycles of sunspot activity. The spots gradually increase over several years, peak, and subsequently decrease over the next several years, with spots from old and new cycles often occurring simultaneously as a new cycle starts. At the beginning of a cycle, sunspots are sparse. Activity on our Sun varies over a roughly 11-year cycle. ![]()
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