Sunspots – July 2014

Description:

With the appropriate filters, observing and photographing the Sun allows us to discover a multitude of details. Sunspots are areas of lower temperatures than the rest of the Sun that are associated with a strong magnetic field. The number of spots and their level of activity varies over an 11-year cycle. During the minimum, several consecutive months can go by without any sunspot, whereas we can count up to 200 during the maximums. This photo shows the different parts of sunspots during very intense activity. The umbra is the dark part and it is surrounded by an intermediate zone called penumbra. There are filaments which are in fact the basis of huge loops of protuberances. These filaments are clearly visible here.