New, Close-Up View Probes the Nature of Sunspots

[Orion11]

Beautiful!!!

Seriously, I don't think we should stare at this too long … but for scientists who plan to, this new, high-resolution view of a sunspot stands to unlock secrets of the Sun's mysterious energetics.

In the just-released image above, the interface between a sunspot's umbra (dark center) and penumbra (lighter outer region) shows a complex structure with narrow, almost horizontal (lighter to white) filaments embedded in a background having a more vertical (darker to black) magnetic field. Farther out, extended patches of horizontal field dominate. For the first time, scientists have modeled this complex structure in a comprehensive 3D computer simulation, giving scientists their first glimpse below the visible surface.

The international team of scientists, led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, say the high-resolution simulations of sunspot pairs open the way for researchers to learn more about the vast, mysterious dark patches on the Sun’s surface. Sunspots are the most striking surface manifestations of solar magnetism, and they are associated with massive ejections of charged plasma that can cause geomagnetic storms and disrupt communications and navigational systems. They also contribute to variations in overall solar output, which can affect weather on Earth and exert a subtle (and as-yet deciphered) influence on climate patterns.

The new research, by scientists at NCAR and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany, appears this week in Science Express.

“This is the first time we have a model of an entire sunspot,” says lead author Matthias Rempel, a scientist at NCAR’s High Altitude Observatory. “If you want to understand all the drivers of Earth’s atmospheric system, you have to understand how sunspots emerge and evolve. Our simulations will advance research into the inner workings of the Sun as well as connections between solar output and Earth’s atmosphere.”

Ever since outward flows from the center of sunspots were discovered 100 years ago, scientists have worked toward explaining the complex structure of sunspots, whose number peaks and wanes during the 11-year solar cycle. Sunspots encompass intense magnetic activity that is associated with solar flares and massive ejections of plasma that can buffet Earth’s atmosphere. The resulting damage to power grids, satellites, and other sensitive technological systems takes an economic toll on a rising number of industries.

Creating such detailed simulations would not have been possible even as recently as a few years ago, before the latest generation of supercomputers and a growing array of instruments to observe the Sun. Partly because of such new technology, scientists have already made advances in solving the equations that describe the physics of solar processes.
Source: University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), via American Astronomical Society (AAS) press wire

[BROOK]

That is totally amazing Great pic

[Dantheman62]

Wow cool! that's a hell of a umbra/penumbra pic! Amazing!

[Orion11]

and fractal, just like the rest of nature!
from vegetables, to the sun! lol very cool.

[Dantheman62]

And still no sunspots!

[Orion11]

speaking of sunspots, check this out.....


Mystery of the Missing Sunspots, Solved?

June 17, 2009: The sun is in the pits of a century-class solar minimum, and sunspots have been puzzlingly scarce for more than two years. Now, for the first time, solar physicists might understand why.

Above: A helioseismic map of the solar interior. Tilted red-yellow bands trace solar jet streams. Black contours denote sunspot activity. When the jet streams reach a critical latitude around 22 degrees, sunspot activity intensifies.

At an American Astronomical Society press conference today in Boulder, Colorado, researchers announced that a jet stream deep inside the sun is migrating slower than usual through the star's interior, giving rise to the current lack of sunspots.

Rachel Howe and Frank Hill of the National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Tucson, Arizona, used a technique called helioseismology to detect and track the jet stream down to depths of 7,000 km below the surface of the sun. The sun generates new jet streams near its poles every 11 years, they explained to a room full of reporters and fellow scientists. The streams migrate slowly from the poles to the equator and when a jet stream reaches the critical latitude of 22 degrees, new-cycle sunspots begin to appear.

more Here

[Dantheman62]

Cool, that's amazing that they can detect internal jet streams inside the sun! Wow!

[iainl140285]

Originally Posted by Dantheman62

Cool, that's amazing that they can detect internal jet streams inside the sun! Wow!

Cool pics

Amazing is that they cant find bin laden when they can see everything else!

[cosmictexan]

What a great pic of the sun. I have SOHO bookmarked and check it every day and today I noticed that I can not get an image of the sun today 7/13/09It seems strange that all the pictures only go up to 7/12/09 at 4o UT and nothing after that time. Does anyone else here watch the sun? Let me know if you can get an image for today 7/13/09

That's a very powerful image! Thank you for sharing.