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  • Understanding Sunspots: What Causes Them and Their 11-Year Cycle

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    Haroon Khan
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    Sunspots are cooler areas on the sun's surface caused by strong magnetic fields. The sun's magnetic field gets wound up as the equator rotates faster than the poles, causing parts of the field to rupture the surface and form sunspots. Sunspots follow an 11-year cycle that is associated with flares, prominences, and coronal mass ejections, which can cause auroras seen on Earth.

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    Sunspots are cooler areas on the sun's surface caused by strong magnetic fields. The sun's magnetic field gets wound up as the equator rotates faster than the poles, causing parts of the field to rupture the surface and form sunspots. Sunspots follow an 11-year cycle that is associated with flares, prominences, and coronal mass ejections, which can cause auroras seen on Earth.

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    4 views17 pages

    Understanding Sunspots: What Causes Them and Their 11-Year Cycle

    Uploaded by

    Haroon Khan
    Sunspots are cooler areas on the sun's surface caused by strong magnetic fields. The sun's magnetic field gets wound up as the equator rotates faster than the poles, causing parts of the field to rupture the surface and form sunspots. Sunspots follow an 11-year cycle that is associated with flares, prominences, and coronal mass ejections, which can cause auroras seen on Earth.

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    of 17

    Understanding

    Sunspots
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    What is a Sunspot?

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    The Sun’s Visible
    Surface
    The Lower Atmosphere
    The Sun in Hydrogen-

    The Upper Atmosphere

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    A Typical Sunspot in

    “White Light”

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    Sunspot Detail

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    Sunspot Model

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    that are hotter are brighter. Which bulb is hotter


    er, the sun’s surface or a sunspot? How do you know
    So, sunspots are way
    cool!
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    But, what causes sunspots?


    Like planet Earth, our
    Sun has a
    strong magnetic field
    Magnetic Winding

    The sun rotates faster at its equator than


    at its poles. The sun’s
    strong magnetic field gets wound up causing
    part of the fields to rupture the surface
    where they cause sunspots.
    Magnetic fields make
    cool zones.

    oving charged particles are deflected by magnetic f


    gnetic fields of sunspots deflect hotter gases allo
    ooler gases that experience less of this deflective
    The 11-Year
    Sunspot Cycle
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    Butterfly Diagram
    Associated with
    sunspots are flares…

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    prominences, and…
    coronal mass
    ejections!!!

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    the auroras
    that we see
    on Earth.
    Why do we have
    sunspots?
    What does
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    magnetism have
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    Sunspots?

    Why do we have a sunspot cycle?

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