As, for example, in the middle of the last millennium. Every inhabitant of our planet is aware that on the main source of heat and light there are small darkenings that are difficult to see without special devices. But not everyone knows the fact that it is they that lead to which can greatly affect the Earth's magnetic field.

Definition

In simple terms, sunspots are dark patches that form on the surface of the Sun. It is a mistake to believe that they do not emit bright light, but compared to the rest of the photosphere, they are indeed much darker. Their main characteristic is low temperature. Thus, sunspots on the Sun are cooler by about 1500 Kelvin than other areas surrounding them. In fact, they are the very areas through which magnetic fields come to the surface. Thanks to this phenomenon, we can talk about such a process as magnetic activity. Accordingly, if there are few spots, then this is called a quiet period, and when there are a lot of them, then such a period will be called active. During the latter, the Sun's glow is slightly brighter due to the torches and flocculi located around the dark areas.

Studying

The observation of sunspots has been going on for a long time, its roots go back to the era BC. So, Theophrastus Aquinas back in the 4th century BC. e. mentioned their existence in his works. The first sketch of darkening on the surface of the main star was discovered in 1128, it belongs to John Worcester. In addition, in the ancient Russian works of the XIV century, black solar blotches are mentioned. Science quickly began to study them in the 1600s. Most scientists of that period adhered to the version that sunspots are planets moving around the axis of the Sun. But after the invention of the telescope by Galileo, this myth was dispelled. He was the first to discover that spots are integral to the solar structure itself. This event gave rise powerful wave studies and observations that have not stopped ever since. Modern study strikes the imagination with its scale. For 400 years, progress in this area has become tangible, and now the Belgian Royal Observatory is counting the number of sunspots, but the disclosure of all facets of this cosmic phenomenon is still ongoing.

Appearance

Even at school, children are told about the existence of a magnetic field, but usually only the poloidal component is mentioned. But the theory of sunspots also involves the study of a toroidal element, of course, we are already talking about the magnetic field of the Sun. Near the Earth, it cannot be calculated, since it does not appear on the surface. Another situation is with the heavenly body. Under certain conditions, the magnetic tube floats out through the photosphere. As you guessed, this ejection causes sunspots to form on the surface. Most often this happens en masse, which is why group clusters of spots are most common.

Properties

On average, it reaches 6000 K, while for spots it is about 4000 K. However, this does not prevent them from still producing a powerful amount of light. Sunspots and active regions, that is, groups of sunspots, have different lifetimes. The first live from a couple of days to several weeks. But the latter are much more tenacious and can remain in the photosphere for months. As for the structure of each individual spot, it seems to be complicated. Its central part is called the shadow, which outwardly looks monophonic. In turn, it is surrounded by penumbra, which is distinguished by its variability. As a result of the contact of a cold plasma and a magnetic one, fluctuations of matter are noticeable on it. The sizes of sunspots, as well as their number in groups, can be very diverse.

Cycles of solar activity

Everyone knows that the level is constantly changing. This provision led to the emergence of the concept of an 11-year cycle. Sunspots, their appearance and number are very closely related to this phenomenon. However, this question remains controversial, since one cycle can vary from 9 to 14 years, and the level of activity changes relentlessly from century to century. Thus, there may be periods of calm, when spots are practically absent for more than one year. But the opposite can also happen, when their numbers are considered abnormal. Previously, the countdown of the beginning of the cycle began from the moment of minimum solar activity. But with the advent of improved technologies, the calculation is carried out from the moment when the polarity of the spots changes. Data on past solar activities are available for study, but they can hardly be the most faithful assistant in predicting the future, because the nature of the Sun is very unpredictable.

Impact on the planet

It's no secret that the Sun interacts closely with our daily lives. The Earth is constantly exposed to attacks of various irritants from the outside. From their destructive effects, the planet is protected by the magnetosphere and atmosphere. But, unfortunately, they are not able to resist him completely. Thus, satellites can be disabled, radio communications are disrupted, and astronauts are exposed to increased danger. In addition, radiation affects climate change and even human appearance. There is such a phenomenon as sun spots on the body that appear under the influence of ultraviolet radiation.

This issue has not yet been adequately studied, as well as the effect of sunspots on everyday life of people. Another phenomenon that depends on magnetic disturbances can be called Magnetic storms have become one of the most famous consequences of solar activity. They represent another external field around the Earth, which is parallel to the constant. Modern scientists even associate increased mortality, as well as exacerbation of diseases of the cardiovascular system with the appearance of this same magnetic field. And among the people it even gradually began to turn into superstition.

In ancient times, the Sun was deified. And not only the Sun, but everything in the sky in general. Probably, since those ancient times, the well-known opposition of the ideally perfect heaven and the sinful, imperfect Earth has come down to us. “It differs like the sky from the Earth,” we say about things that are not similar to each other in everything.

In the real world, it is difficult to find a more suitable object for religious worship than the Sun. In the cult of the Sun, people instinctively expressed the correct idea of the dependence of everything earthly on the Sun. And this cult penetrated even into ancient Greek philosophy - the doctrine of the "perfection" of heaven was sanctified by the authority of Aristotle and his disciples. However, in those days, sun worshipers met in all corners the globe.

You probably guessed what I started this conversation. When one of the ancient observers noticed spots on the Sun, he not only made a scientific discovery,

but also offended the deity. The discovery was valued only by descendants, punishment for insult came immediately. For these reasons, the discovery of sunspots resolved the fundamental dispute - whether the heavens are perfect or nothing earthly is alien to them.

It is difficult to say who was the first to notice spots on the Sun. They were described by ancient Chinese chroniclers, Arabic and Armenian chronicles, Russian chronicles, medieval historians - they all note that occasionally some dark formations appear on the Sun, most of all similar to nails, as if driven into the Sun. The word "spot" appeared later, in the 17th century, when for the first time it was possible to examine sunspots through a telescope.

In the history of science, it is not uncommon for a discovery to be made simultaneously and independently by several scientists. So it was at the beginning of the 17th century, when three scientists disputed the honor of discovering sunspots - the great Italian Galileo Galilei, the Dutchman Johann Fabricius and the German Jesuit professor Christopher Scheiner.

Seeing sunspots through a telescope is a simple matter. One has only to protect the eyes with a dark filter and point the telescope at the Sun, and spots can almost always be seen on its surface. Ancient observations of sunspots with the naked eye were either forgotten or still unknown.

The first book on sunspots appeared in 1611. In it, Johann Fabritius says that back in December 1610, one morning, while observing the Sun through a telescope, he noticed a black spot on it, which at first he considered to be a distant small cloud. However, after some time, when the Sun was already high in the sky, a strange dark "cloud" remained in the same place on the solar disk. When the next morning Fabricius saw the same spot on the Sun and in the same place, all doubts disappeared - the spot was not a cloud, but belonged to the Sun!

A few days later, new heels appeared on the Sun, and the old spot changed shape and moved noticeably to the western edge of the Sun. A few days later it disappeared beyond this edge, but two weeks later it reappeared on the opposite, eastern edge. The conclusion was that the huge solar ball slowly rotates around its axis, completing a complete revolution in about a month.

Fabricius's book was already being prepared for publication when, in March 1611, Scheiner first noticed sunspots with his telescope and showed them to his students. However, unlike Fabricius, Scheiner was in no hurry to publish. He was well aware that spots on the Sun would first of all tarnish his authority as a Jesuit professor, propagandist of the Aristotelian doctrine of the "inviolable purity" of heaven. It was not until December 1611 that Scheiner ventured to write about the discovery of sunspots, although here, too, he acted quite in a Jesuit way. Not wanting trouble, Scheiner declared that the formations he had discovered were not spots on the Sun, but unknown planets close to the Sun, projected onto the solar disk in the form of black spots.

Galileo discovered sunspots, apparently as early as the middle of 1610, but did not declare his discovery anywhere. However, in April 1611 in Rome, Galileo showed sunspots through his telescope to those who were interested in his astronomical discoveries. Galileo's caution is understandable - everything that he saw in the sky, arming his eyes with a telescope, went against not only the philosophy of Aristotle, but also the teachings of the church. In such a situation, solar

spots could be the last straw that overwhelmed the patience of the enemies of the great scientist.

And yet, dangerous as it was, Galileo got involved in a dispute about the nature of sunspots. He took the side of Fabricius and convincingly proved with new observations that the spots are not planets, but some kind of formations on the solar surface.

It should still be remembered kind word and Shayner. He agreed with Galileo's arguments and diligently observed sunspots until 1627. Scheiner specified the rotation period of the Sun and described his observations in a voluminous tome containing about 800 pages!

And there are spots on the Sun - in the end, both incredulous scientists and orthodox churchmen had to agree with this truth. For almost two centuries, astronomers continued to observe spots on the Sun without discovering anything fundamentally new. It was only in the last century that it suddenly became clear that the number of sunspots fluctuates according to a certain law.

Heinrich Schwabe, a modest German pharmacist who lived in Germany in the last century, was an amateur astronomer. Note that not in every case is possible, much less useful "amateur". You probably wouldn't take the risk of seeking the help of an amateur surgeon. But in astronomy, amateurs played, and to some extent still play, a big role. Specialist astronomers have always been few. They did not have time to follow everything that happens in the sky. Here and came to the aid of numerous lovers of astronomy. They discovered new planets and comets, made regular observations of variable stars, and recorded the appearance of meteors. In a word, in almost all areas of astronomy, a conscientious observer, armed with even a modest optical instrument, can be of benefit to science. Some of the amateur astronomers, like Heinrich Schwabe, made great discoveries.

In 1826, Schwabe acquired not large telescope and began searching for unknown planets closer to the Sun than Mercury. This topic was fashionable in those years, and everyone wanted to become a pioneer. Obviously, if there unknown planets, they must occasionally be projected onto the solar disk. At first glance, they will look like sunspots, but the details of the structure will reveal the true nature of suspicious objects. Here

why Schwabe, with purely German punctuality, recorded in his journals for many years all the sunspots Appearing on the Sun.

And then, looking for one thing, Shvabe suddenly discovered something completely different. It turned out that approximately every ten years the number of sunspots becomes the largest. Five years after that, it drops to a minimum: on other days, the Sun looks quite Aristotelian - dazzlingly clean. Schwabe published the first report of his discovery in 1843. However, it became widely known only eight years later, when the famous naturalist Alexander Humboldt, in his book Cosmos, informed the whole world about Schwabe's observations.

The discovery of the mysterious solar rhythm interested the astronomer of the Zurich Observatory Rudolf Wolf. He collected all telescopic observations of sunspots, as well as their description in ancient chronicles. Over a longer period of time, the rhythm of the solar pulse is more clearly expressed. Wolff found in 1852 that maximum amount spots fills the solar disk every 11.1 years (and not once every 10 years, as Schwabe calculated). Three years later, after becoming the director of the Zurich Observatory, Wolf organized for the first time regular systematic observations of sunspots, a visual expression of the so-called solar activity.

Wolf's example was soon followed by astronomers at other observatories. Gradually, a "solar service" took shape - regular, never-ending observations of the sun to this day at many observatories of the globe. In addition, Wolf found links between solar activity and auroras, magnetic storms and other phenomena on Earth. He was one of the discoverers of the Sun, a specialist astronomer who devoted his entire life to studying the Sun and solar-terrestrial relations. Do not think that after Wolf, amateur astronomers, researchers of the Sun, no longer made discoveries. I will give just one example.

Alexey Petrovich Moiseev worked in the Moscow Planetarium for many years as the head of the slide fund. I saw him for the first time in 1934 at a meeting of the Solar Department of the Moscow Astronomical and Geodetic Society. Tall, thin, modestly dressed, Moiseev did not like to talk about himself, about his discoveries.

For a long time I did not know that this already elderly amateur astronomer, armed with an astronomical tube with a lens diameter of only 34 mm, contributed huge contribution in the study of the Sun and its activity.

Moiseev discovered that the rainbow rings around the Sun and Moon, the so-called halos, are associated with sunspots. With the same spots, according to his research, the frequency of occurrence of cirrus clouds, the frequency and strength of thunderstorms are associated.

He was a patient explorer of nature, literally observing the Sun every day. And so from year to year, from decade to decade.

It is easy to understand that at the same moment in a large telescope on the Sun you will see much more sunspots than in a small one. In order to compare such heterogeneous observations with each other, they are calculated (reduced) to some telescope, taken as a standard. In other words, they theoretically calculate what could be seen if this telescope were replaced with a standard one.

Abroad, the "standard" telescope has long been considered the one in which Wolf once observed. In the Soviet Union, for a long time, all observations of sunspots were reduced to the tiny telescope of Alexei Petrovich Moiseev.

Is this not a sign of respect for a modest worker of science who did not have an official diploma in astronomy, but who showed himself to be a real scientist all his life?

Life source

A star called the Sun is our source of heat and energy. Thanks to this luminary, life is supported on Earth. We know more about the Sun than about any other star. This is understandable, because we are part of the solar system and are only 150 million km from it.

For scientists, sunspots that arise, develop and disappear, and new ones appear instead of disappeared ones, are of great interest. Sometimes giant spots can form. For example, in April 1947, a complex spot on the Sun could be observed with an area exceeding the earth's surface by 350 times! It could be observed with the naked eye.

Study of processes on the central luminary

There are large observatories that have at their disposal special telescopes for studying the Sun. Thanks to such equipment, astronomers can find out what processes take place on the Sun and how they affect life on earth. In addition, by studying solar processes, scientists can learn more about other stellar objects.

The energy of the Sun in the surface layer breaks out in the form of light. Astronomers record a significant difference in solar activity, as evidenced by sunspots that appear on the star. They are less bright and colder regions of the solar disk compared to the overall brightness of the photosphere.

solar formations

Large spots are quite complex. They are characterized by a penumbra that surrounds the dark area of the shadow and has a diameter that is more than twice the size of the shadow itself. If you observe sunspots on the edge of the disk of our luminary, then there is an impression that this is a deep dish. It looks like this because the gas in the spots is more transparent than in the surrounding atmosphere. Therefore, our gaze penetrates deeper. Shadow temperature 3(4) x 10 3 K.

Astronomers have found that the base of a typical sunspot is 1500 km below the surface surrounding it. This discovery was made by scientists from the University of Glasgow in 2009. The astronomical group was headed by F. Watson.

Temperature of solar formations

Interestingly, in terms of size, sunspots can be both small, with a diameter of 1000 to 2000 km, and giant. The dimensions of the latter are much larger than those of the globe.

The spot itself is the place where the strongest magnetic fields enter the photosphere. Reducing the energy flow, magnetic fields come from the very interior of the Sun. Therefore, on the surface, in places where there are spots in the sun, the temperature is approximately 1500 K less than in the surrounding surface. Accordingly, these processes make these places less bright.

Dark formations on the Sun form groups of large and small spots that can occupy an impressive area on the star's disk. However, the pattern of formations is unstable. It is constantly changing, as sunspots are also unstable. They, as mentioned above, arise, change in size and disintegrate. However, the lifetime of groups of dark formations is rather long. It can last for 2-3 solar revolutions. The period of rotation of the Sun itself lasts approximately 27 days.

Discoveries

When the Sun goes down below the horizon, you can see spots of the largest size. This is how Chinese astronomers studied the solar surface 2000 years ago. In ancient times, it was believed that spots are the result of processes occurring on Earth. In the 17th century, this opinion was refuted by Galileo Galilei. Thanks to the use of the telescope, he managed to make many important discoveries:

about the appearance and disappearance of spots;
about changes in size and dark formations;
the shape that black spots on the Sun have changes as they approach the boundary of the visible disk;
By studying the movement of dark spots on the solar disk, Galileo proved the rotation of the Sun.

Among all the small spots, two large ones usually stand out, which form a bipolar group.

On September 1, 1859, independently of each other, two English astronomers observed the Sun in white light. They were R. Carrington and S. Hodgson. They saw something like lightning. It suddenly flashed among one group of sunspots. This phenomenon was later called a solar flare.

Explosions

What are the characteristics of solar flares and how do they occur? Briefly: this is a very powerful explosion on the main luminary. Thanks to him, a huge amount of energy that has accumulated in the solar atmosphere is quickly released. As you know, the volume of this atmosphere is limited. Most outbreaks occur in areas considered neutral. They are located between large bipolar spots.

As a rule, solar flares begin to develop with a sharp and unexpected increase in brightness at the flare site. This is the region of the brighter and hotter photosphere. This is followed by an explosion of catastrophic proportions. During the explosion, the plasma is heated from 40 to 100 million K. These manifestations can be observed in the multiple amplification of ultraviolet and X-ray radiation of short waves of the Sun. In addition, our luminary emits a powerful sound and throws out accelerated corpuscles.

What processes are going on and what happens to the Sun during flares?

Sometimes there are powerful flashes that generate solar cosmic rays. Cosmic ray protons reach half the speed of light. These particles are carriers of deadly energy. They can easily penetrate the body spaceship and destroy living organisms at the cellular level. Therefore, solar spacecraft pose a high danger to the crew, which was overtaken by a sudden flash during the flight.

So, the Sun emits radiation in the form of particles and electromagnetic waves. The total flux of radiation (visible) remains constant at all times. And accurate to a fraction of a percent. Weak flashes can always be observed. The big ones happen every few months. During the years of maximum solar activity, large flares are observed several times a month.

By studying what happens to the Sun during flares, astronomers have been able to measure the duration of these processes. A small flash lasts from 5 to 10 minutes. The most powerful - up to several hours. During the flare, plasma with a mass of up to 10 billion tons is ejected into the space around the Sun. This releases energy that has the equivalent of tens to hundreds of millions of hydrogen bombs! But the power of even the largest flares will not be more than hundredths of a percent of the power of total solar radiation. That is why there is no noticeable increase in the luminosity of the Sun during a flare.

solar transformations

5800 K is approximately the same temperature on the surface of the sun, and in the center it reaches 16 million K. Bubbles (granularity) are observed on the solar surface. They can only be seen with a solar telescope. With the help of the process of convection occurring in the solar atmosphere, thermal energy is transferred from the lower layers to the photosphere and gives it a foamy structure.

Not only the temperature on the surface of the Sun and in its very center is different, but also the density with pressure. With depth, all indicators increase. Since the temperature in the core is very high, a reaction takes place there: hydrogen is converted into helium, and in this case, a huge amount of heat is released. Thus, the Sun is kept from being compressed by its own gravity.

Interestingly, our luminary is a single typical star. Mass and size of the star Sun in diameter, respectively: 99.9% of the mass of objects solar system and 1.4 million km. The Sun, like a star, has 5 billion years to live. It will gradually heat up and increase in size. In theory, the moment will come when all the hydrogen in the central core will be used up. The sun will be 3 times its current size. As a result, it will cool down and turn into a white dwarf.

Sergey Bogachev

How are sunspots arranged?

One of the largest active regions this year appeared on the disk of the Sun, which means that there are spots on the Sun again - despite the fact that our star enters a period. On the nature and history of the detection of sunspots, as well as their influence on earth's atmosphere says an employee of the Laboratory of X-ray Solar Astronomy of the Lebedev Physical Institute, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Sergey Bogachev.

In the first decade of the 17th century, the Italian scientist Galileo Galilei and the German astronomer and mechanic Christoph Scheiner, approximately simultaneously and independently of each other, improved the telescope (or telescope) invented several years earlier and created a helioscope based on it - a device that allows you to observe the Sun by projecting his picture on the wall. In these images, they found details that could be mistaken for wall defects if they did not move with the image - small spots that dot the surface of the ideal (and somewhat divine) central celestial body- Sun. This is how sunspots entered the history of science, and the proverb that there is nothing perfect in the world: “There are spots on the Sun” into our life.

Sunspots are the main feature that can be seen on the surface of our star without the use of complex astronomical techniques. The visible size of the spots is about one arc minute (the size of a 10-kopeck coin from a distance of 30 meters), which is at the limit of the resolution of the human eye. However, a very simple optical device, magnifying only a few times, is enough for these objects to be detected, which, in fact, happened in Europe at the beginning of the 17th century. Separate observations of spots, however, regularly occurred even before that, and often they were made simply with the eye, but remained unnoticed or misunderstood.

For some time they tried to explain the nature of spots without affecting the ideality of the Sun, for example, like clouds in the solar atmosphere, but it quickly became clear that they are mediocre on the solar surface. Their nature, however, remained a mystery until the first half of the 20th century, when magnetic fields were first discovered on the Sun and it turned out that the places of their concentration coincide with the places where spots form.

Why do spots look dark? First of all, it should be noted that their darkness is not absolute. Rather, it is like the dark silhouette of a person standing against the background of a lighted window, that is, it is only apparent against the background of a very bright ambient light. If you measure the "brightness" of the spot, you will find that it also emits light, but only at a level of 20-40 percent of the normal light of the Sun. This fact is sufficient to determine the temperature of the spot without any additional measurements, since the flux of thermal radiation from the Sun is uniquely related to its temperature through the Stefan-Boltzmann law (the radiation flux is proportional to the temperature radiating body to the fourth degree). If we take the brightness of the normal surface of the Sun with a temperature of about 6000 degrees Celsius as a unit, then the temperature of sunspots should be about 4000-4500 degrees. As a matter of fact, the way it is - sunspots (and this was later confirmed by other methods, for example, spectroscopic studies of radiation), are simply areas of the surface of the Sun with a lower temperature.

The connection of spots with magnetic fields is explained by the influence of the magnetic field on the gas temperature. Such an influence is associated with the presence of a convective (boiling) zone near the Sun, which extends from the surface to a depth of about a third of the solar radius. Boiling solar plasma continuously raises hot plasma from its depths to the surface and thereby increases the surface temperature. In areas where the surface of the Sun is pierced by tubes of a strong magnetic field, the effectiveness of convection is suppressed until it stops completely. As a result, without hot convective plasma recharge, the surface of the Sun cools just to temperatures of the order of 4000 degrees. A spot is formed.

Nowadays, spots are studied mainly as the centers of active solar regions, in which solar flares are concentrated. The fact is that the magnetic field, the “source” of which are spots, brings additional energy reserves to the Sun’s atmosphere, which are “superfluous” for the Sun, and it, like any physical system, seeking to minimize its energy, tries to get rid of them. This additional energy is called free energy. There are two main mechanisms for dumping excess energy.

The first is when the Sun simply ejects into interplanetary space a part of the atmosphere that weighs it down, along with excess magnetic fields, plasma and currents. These phenomena are called coronal mass ejections. Corresponding emissions, propagating from the Sun, sometimes reach colossal sizes of several million kilometers and are, in particular, the main cause of magnetic storms - the impact of such a plasma clot on the Earth's magnetic field unbalances it, makes it fluctuate, and also enhances electric currents, flowing in the Earth's magnetosphere, which is the essence of a magnetic storm.

The second way is solar flares. In this case, free energy is burned directly in the solar atmosphere, but the consequences of this can also reach the Earth - in the form of streams of hard radiation and charged particles. Such an effect, which is radiation in nature, is one of the main reasons for the failure of spacecraft, as well as auroras.

You should not, however, having found a spot on the Sun, immediately prepare for solar flares and magnetic storms. Quite common is the situation when the appearance of spots on the solar disk, even record-breaking large ones, does not lead to even a minimal increase in the level of solar activity. Why is this happening? This is due to the nature of the release of magnetic energy on the Sun. Such energy cannot be released from a single magnetic flux, just as a magnet lying on a table, no matter how much it is shaken, will not create any solar flare. There must be at least two such threads, and they must be able to interact with each other.

Since one magnetic tube penetrating the surface of the Sun in two places creates two spots, all groups of spots, in which there are only two or one spots, are not capable of creating flares. These groups are formed by a single thread that has nothing to interact with. Such a pair of spots can be gigantic and exist on the solar disk for months, frightening the Earth with its size, but will not create a single, even minimal, flare. Such groups have a classification and are called Alpha if there is one spot, or Beta if there are two.

A complex sunspot of the Beta-Gamma-Delta type. Above - a spot in the visible range, below - magnetic fields shown using the HMI instrument on board the SDO space observatory

If you find a message about the appearance of a new spot on the Sun, do not be lazy and look at the type of group. If this is Alpha or Beta, then you don’t have to worry - the Sun will not produce any flashes or magnetic storms in the coming days. A more complex class is Gamma. These are groups of sunspots in which there are several sunspots of north and south polarity. In such a region, there are at least two interacting magnetic flux. Accordingly, such an area will lose magnetic energy and feed solar activity. And finally, the last class is Beta-Gamma. This is the maximum difficult areas, with extremely confusing magnetic field. If such a group appeared in the catalog, there is no doubt that the Sun will unravel this system for at least several days, burning energy in the form of flares, including large ones, and throwing out plasma until it simplifies this system to a simple Alpha or Beta configuration.

However, despite the "frightening" connection of spots with flares and magnetic storms, one should not forget that this is one of the most remarkable astronomical phenomena that can be observed from the Earth's surface with amateur instruments. Finally, sunspots, this is a very beautiful object - just look at their pictures taken with high resolution. Those who, even after this, are not able to forget about the negative aspects of this phenomenon, can take comfort in the fact that the number of sunspots on the Sun is still relatively small (no more than 1 percent of the disk surface, and often much less).

A number of types of stars, at least red dwarfs, "suffer" to a much greater extent - up to tens of percent of the area can be covered with spots in them. One can imagine what the hypothetical inhabitants of the corresponding planetary systems have, and once again rejoice at what a relatively calm star we were lucky to live next to.

Periodically, the Sun is covered with dark spots around the entire perimeter. They were first discovered with the naked eye by ancient Chinese astronomers, while the official discovery of the spots took place at the beginning of the 17th century, during the appearance of the first telescopes. They were discovered by Christoph Scheiner and Galileo Galilei.

Galileo, despite the fact that Scheiner discovered the spots earlier, was the first to publish data on his discovery. Based on these spots, he was able to calculate the period of rotation of the star. He discovered that the sun rotates as it would solid, and the speed of rotation of its matter is different depending on the latitudes.

To date, it has been possible to determine that spots are areas of colder matter that are formed as a result of exposure to high magnetic activity that interferes with the uniform current of hot plasma. However, spots are still not fully understood.

For example, astronomers cannot say exactly what is causing the brighter fringe that surrounds the dark part of the spot. In length they can be up to two thousand kilometers, in width up to one hundred and fifty. The study of spots is hampered by their relatively small size. However, there is an opinion that the strands are ascending and descending flows of gas formed as a result of the fact that hot matter from the bowels of the Sun rises to the surface, where it cools down and falls back down. Scientists have determined that the downdrafts move at a speed of 3.6 thousand km/h, while the updrafts move at a speed of about 10.8 thousand km/h.

Mystery of dark sunspots solved

Scientists have figured out the nature of the bright strands framing dark spots on the Sun. Dark spots on the Sun are areas of colder matter. They appear because the very high magnetic activity of the Sun can interfere with the uniform flow of hot plasma. However, to date, many details of the structure of spots remain unclear.

In particular, scientists do not have an unambiguous explanation of the nature of the brighter strands surrounding the dark part of the spot. The length of such strands can reach two thousand kilometers, and the width - 150 kilometers. Due to the relatively small size of the spot, it is quite difficult to study. Many astronomers believed that the strands are ascending and descending flows of gas - hot matter rises from the bowels of the Sun to the surface, where it spreads, cools down and falls down with great speed.

Authors new job the star was observed using a Swedish solar telescope with a main mirror diameter of one meter. Scientists have discovered dark downward gas flows moving at a speed of about 3.6 thousand kilometers per hour, as well as bright ascending flows, the speed of which was about 10.8 thousand kilometers per hour.

Recently, another team of scientists managed to achieve a very significant result in the study of the Sun - NASA's STEREO-A and STEREO-B devices are located around the star so that now specialists can observe a three-dimensional image of the Sun.

News of science and technology

American amateur astronomer Howard Eskildsen recently took photographs of a dark spot on the Sun and found that the spot appears to cut through a bright bridge of light.

Eskildsen observed solar activity from his home observatory in Ocala, Florida. In photographs of dark spot #1236, he noticed one interesting phenomenon. A bright canyon, also called a light bridge, split this dark spot roughly in half. The researcher estimated that the length of this canyon is about 20 thousand km, which is almost twice the diameter of the Earth.

I applied a purple Ca-K filter that highlights the bright magnetic manifestations around the sunspot group. It was also perfectly visible how the light bridge cut the sunspot into two parts, Eskildsen explains the phenomenon.

The nature of light bridges is not yet fully understood. Their occurrence very often heralds the disintegration of sunspots. Some researchers note that light bridges result from the cross-crossing of magnetic fields. These processes are similar to those that cause bright solar flares.

One can hope that in the near future a bright flash will appear at this place or spot No. 1236 may finally split in half.

Dark sunspots are relatively cold regions of the Sun that occur where strong magnetic fields reach the surface of a star, scientists believe.

NASA captures record-breaking large sunspots

The American space agency has recorded large spots on the surface of the Sun. Photos of sunspots and their description can be viewed on the NASA website.

Observations were carried out on February 19 and 20. The spots discovered by NASA experts were characterized by a high growth rate. One of them grew in 48 hours to a size six times the diameter of the Earth.

Sunspots form as a result of increased magnetic field activity. Due to the strengthening of the field, the activity of charged particles is suppressed in these regions, as a result of which the temperature on the surface of the spots turns out to be significantly lower than in other regions. This explains the local darkening observed from Earth.

Sunspots are unstable formations. In the case of interaction with similar structures of a different polarity, they collapse, which leads to the release of plasma flows into the surrounding space.

When such a stream reaches the Earth, most of it is neutralized by the planet's magnetic field, and the rest flows to the poles, where they can be observed in the form of auroras. High power solar flares can disrupt satellites, electrical appliances and power grids on Earth.

Dark spots disappear from the sun

Scientists are worried because there is not a single dark spot visible on the surface of the Sun, which was observed a few days ago. And this despite the fact that the star is in the middle of the 11-year cycle of solar activity.

Usually dark spots appear in those places where there is increased magnetic activity. These could be solar flares or coronal mass ejections that release energy. It is not known what caused such a lull during the period of activation of magnetic activity.

According to some experts, days with no sunspots were to be expected and this is just a temporary intermission. For example, on August 14, 2011, not a single dark spot was noticed on the star, however, in general, the year was accompanied by quite serious solar activity.

All this emphasizes that scientists essentially do not know what is happening on the Sun, they do not know how to predict its activity, says solar physicist Tony Phillips.

The same opinion is shared by Alex Young from the center of Goddard Space Flight. We have been observing the sun in detail for only 50 years. It's not that long, given that it has been orbiting for 4.5 billion years, Yang notes.

Sunspots are the main indicator of solar magnetic activity. In dark regions, the temperature is lower than in the surrounding areas of the photosphere.

Sources: tainy.net, lenta.ru, www.epochtimes.com.ua, respect-youself.livejournal.com, mir24.tv

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