Astronomy Picture of the Day
    


Sunspot Metamorphosis: From Bottom to Top
<< Yesterday 15.02.2005 Tomorrow >>
Sunspot Metamorphosis: From Bottom to Top
Credit & Copyright: Dutch Open Telescope, Sterrekundig Instituut Utrecht
Explanation: Sunspots -- magnets the size of the Earth -- are normally seen flat on the Sun. The above digital metamorphosis, however, shows a sunspot as it appears at increasing heights, effectively in three dimensions. The above false-colored image sequence of solar active region AR 10675 was taken in three very specific colors that effectively isolate different layers above the solar surface. The first images show the Sun's photospheric surface as it normally appears, covered with granules. The large dark sunspot sports a clear dark umbra in the center surrounded by a lighter penumbra. Images appearing toward the middle of the sequence show the Sun as in light predominantly emitted a few hundred kilometers above the photosphere. At this height, the continent sized bubbling granules appear reversed, and long lines of constant magnetic force begin to appear. The last images show the Sun at a few thousand kilometers into the chromosphere. Here magnetic field lines can be clearly followed outward from the sunspot to distant regions.

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
 < February 2005  >
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su

123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28





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.

Based on Astronomy Picture Of the Day

Publications with keywords: sunspot - Sun - magnetic field
Publications with words: sunspot - Sun - magnetic field
See also:
All publications on this topic >>