Explanation:
The Sun's surface keeps changing.
The above movie shows how the
Sun's surface oozes during a single
hour.
The
Sun's photosphere
has thousands of bumps called
granules and usually a few dark depressions called
sunspots.
The
above time-lapse movie centered on
Sunspot 875 was taken in 2006 by the
Vacuum Tower Telescope
in the
Canary Islands of
Spain using
adaptive optics to resolve details below 500 kilometers
across.
Each of the numerous granules is the size of an Earth continent, but much shorter
lived.
A
granule
slowly changes its shape over an hour, and can even completely disappear.
Hot
hydrogen
gas rises in the bright center of a granule, and
falls back into the Sun along a dark granule edge.
The
above movie and similar movies
allows students and solar scientists to study how granules and
sunspots evolve as well as how
magnetic sunspot regions produce powerful
solar flares.
A few days ago, the
largest
sunspot group in recent years rotated into view.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
