Sunspots are darker, cooler areas on the surface of the sun in a region called the photosphere. The photosphere has a temperature of 5,800 degrees Kelvin. Sunspots have temperatures of about 3,800 degrees K. They look dark only in comparison with the brighter and hotter regions of the photosphere around them.
Q. What creates a solar flare How can a solar flare affect Earth?
solar storms can be dangerous to our technologies. When a coronal mass ejection, or CME, strikes Earth’s atmosphere, it causes a temporary disturbance of the Earth’s magnetic field. The storm on the sun causes a type of storm on the Earth, known as a geomagnetic storm.
Q. When will solar flares happen?
4 solar flare. From earth’s viewpoint we see an asymmetrical full halo CME which is pretty much guaranteed to impact our planet. Solar Cycle 25 is expected to peak in July 2025. That’s when sunspots will be the most numerous, as magnetic energy, or flux, bubbles to the sun’s surface from deeper down in the plasma body.
Q. Why does the Sun have black spots?
Dark spots on the Sun are created by the movement of gases, a new study in the journal Science reports. Sunspots are dark regions of the sun that appear black because they are cooler than the rest of the sun’s visible surface.
Q. What happens when the sun is at its solar maximum?
As the Sun approaches solar maximum (the most active part of its 11-year cycle), its magnetic fields become more and more complex. The magnetic fields loop around, and cross over each other, cutting each other off, and reconnecting. You have probably seen what happens when you sprinkle iron filings on a bar magnet.
Q. Why does the sun have an 11 year cycle?
The Short Answer: The Sun’s magnetic field goes through a cycle, called the solar cycle. Every 11 years or so, the Sun’s magnetic field completely flips. This means that the Sun’s north and south poles switch places. Then it takes about another 11 years for the Sun’s north and south poles to flip back again.
Q. When is the next 11-year solar cycle?
Solar Cycle 25 began in December 2019 and is expected to peak in 2025, according to the Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, an international group of experts co-sponsored by NASA and NOAA. Specifically, December 2019 was the “solar minimum” or period of least solar activity in the 11-year solar cycle of the Sun.
Q. Why should 11-year cycle be called a 22 year cycle?
The 11-year sunspot cycle is actually half of a longer, 22-year cycle of solar activity. Each time the sunspot count rises and falls, the magnetic field of the Sun associated with sunspots reverses polarity; the orientation of magnetic fields in the Sun’s northern and southern hemispheres switch.
Q. What is the Gleissberg cycle?
The Gleissberg cycle, first identified in 1862, strengthens and weakens the 11-year cycle over the course of a century (shown in yellow). One paper posits that the Gleissberg pattern is caused by a slow swaying of the sun’s magnetic pole.
Q. What caused the Maunder minimum?
The Maunder Minimum roughly coincided with the middle part of the Little Ice Age, during which Europe and North America experienced colder than average temperatures. The current best hypothesis for the cause of the Little Ice Age is that it was the result of volcanic action.
