Delta Sunspot
When a large bundle of magnetic field lines breaks through the Sun's surface, a sunspot can form. Sometimes, a smaller spot will emerge nearby, creating a magnetically complex region where particles are energized and then violently expelled. Supercomputer models show that rearranging magnetic field lines enables this process.
A animation of the magnetic field of a sunspot, where the magnetic field at the Suns surface is colored blue for strong fields pointing into the sun and red for strong fields pointing out of the Sun. The white lines represent magnetic field lines.
Video slate image reads, "Delta Sunspot
When a large bundle of magnetic field lines breaks through the Sun's surface, a sunspot can form. Sometimes, a smaller spot will emerge nearby, creating a magnetically complex region where particles are energized and then violently expelled.".
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
Naval Research Laboratory
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Animator
- Brendan Antiochos (NASA)
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Scientists
- Spiro Antiochos (Naval Research Laboratory)
- C. Richard DeVore (Naval Research Laboratory)
- John Gardner (Naval Research Laboratory)
Release date
This page was originally published on Thursday, January 21, 1999.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:59 PM EDT.