#solar flares

Moments of the Sun l Seán Doran

Sunspots!! They are planet-sized dark spots in the solar photosphere, aka the surface of the Sun. Found in active regions, sunspots look dark because they are slightly cooler than the rest of the surface. The temperature of sunspots is usually about 4,000 kelvins compared to the rest of the surface at 6,000 kelvins. These sunspots in the above image are in active region AR2835, which also happens to be the largest active region now crossing the Sun. The picture shows a field of view that spans about 150,000 kilometers or over ten Earth diameters. With powerful magnetic fields, solar active regions are often responsible for solar flares and coronal mass ejections, storms which affect space weather near Earth.

Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Teoh, Heng Ee Observatory, Penang, Malaysia