NASA’sSolar Dynamics Observatory(SDO ) has blot a new sunspot coming into view , after a few days of a spotless Sun . This new spot appear to have gather quite a bit of notoriety online , although it ’s mostly misguide .
The SDO release a beautiful telecasting of the spot coming into persuasion , with a ready to hand sizing equivalence of just how fully grown the spot is compare to our planet .
Yes , sunspot are associated with solar flares and yes this is quite wide at 120,000 kilometers ( 75,000 mile ) across , but it ’s nothing to worry about . The Sun is about to accede a menses of minimal action during its 11 - year Hz , but even during this time , sunspots are not that uncommon . On top of that , the newly keep sunspot is not even that freehanded – and size matters when it comes to macula .
“ The fact that we have n’t seen sunspot for a twosome of days prior to this new one is normal , as we are heading toward a minimum of activity , ” Dr Miho Janvier , a solar physicist at the University of Paris - Sud ’s Institute of Space Astrophysics , told IFLScience .
sunspot are feature of the Sun ’s photosphere that appear darker because they are nerveless in temperature – between 2,700 and 4,200 ° C ( 4,900 and 7,600 ° F ) – than the surrounding region , which is at almost 6,000 ° cytosine ( 11,000 ° farad ) . Their formation is linked to the magnetized field due to the solar material .
“ have sunspots is a very vulgar feature of our Sun , " Dr Janvier explain . " It is an indicator of its magnetic field activity and it is exciting to see sunspots appear as they are regions where the local magnetic battlefield is a number more complex than the overall , world field of honor . "
Researchers are not worried about the formation of a unassailable flair . Usually 10 - year flare are produced during maxima by larger and more complex spots , like the notable one ofOctober 2014 .
The current sunspot has produced anM - class flare and many blow - course of instruction flares , which are a lot weaker in energy . It is also losing its complexity , so researchers do n’t look anything much from it .
Nevertheless , even if it ’s more common and not as crowing as you might have heard , it ’s still a pretty cool astrophysical feature .
