Sharpen Your Mind: Sunspots

Posted by Jerry Lopper Mar 8, 2007

The surface of the sun is extremely hot at 6,000 degrees Celsius. But the surface is non-uniform, with differences along the surface of as much as 2,000 degrees Celsius. These areas are called sunspots. They are darker than the neighboring surfaces because they are cooler.

Sunspots usually occur in pairs with each carrying an opposite magnetic charge to the other. The area between sunspot pairs often generates huge explosions we call solar flares. The energy released in solar flares massive; as much as a billion tons of TNT.

Solar flares bombard the earth with powerful x-ray and magnetic radiation, at times disrupting power and communication systems.

Interesting Trivia:

Sunspots and solar flares wax and wan in an eleven year cycle. The latest peak year was 2000.

Galileo used sunspots to track the rotation of the sun, finding that the sun's equator takes roughly twenty-five days to fully rotate, while the poles take thirty-five days for a full rotation. The sun is primarily gas, so the surfaces rotate at different speeds.

For more mind sharpening material see Mind & Attitude in the index.

Source: The Intellectual Devotional, David S. Kidder & Noah D. Oppenheim