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Sunspots themselves, in terms of the magnitude of their radiant-energy deficit, have a weak effect on solar flux. [39] The total effect of sunspots and other magnetic processes in the solar photosphere is an increase of roughly 0.1% in brightness of the Sun in comparison with its brightness at the solar-minimum level.
Benestad's 2005 review [79] found that the solar cycle did not follow Earth's global mean surface temperature. In 2022, Chatzistergos updated the cycle length series with recent sunspot and solar plages data, extending them to more recent periods than previous studies, and also considering the various available time series.
Sunspot activity has been measured using the Wolf number for about 300 years. This index (also known as the Zürich number) uses both the number of sunspots and the number of sunspot groups to compensate for measurement variations. A 2003 study found that sunspots had been more frequent since the 1940s than in the previous 1150 years. [30]
A sunspot this large is easy enough to see from Earth; all that is needed is a solar filter or pair of eclipse glasses to protect your eyes from the sun's dangerous rays. Sunspot AR3664 compared ...
Solar cycle 23 lasted 11.6 years, beginning in May 1996 and ending in January 2008. The maximum smoothed sunspot number (monthly number of sunspots averaged over a twelve-month period) observed during the solar cycle was 120.8 (March 2000), and the minimum was 1.7. [29] A total of 805 days had no sunspots during this cycle. [30] [31] [32]
These appear as dark spots on the Sun's surface, known as sunspots. Thus, sunspots tend to occur under coronal loops, and tend to come in pairs of opposite magnetic polarity; a point where the magnetic field loop emerges from the photosphere is a North magnetic pole, and the other where the loop enters the surface again is a South magnetic pole.
The Sunspot Number (SSN) is the number of sunspots on the Sun's photosphere in visible light on the side of the Sun visible to an Earth observer. The number and total area of sunspots are related to the brightness of the Sun in the EUV and X-ray portions of the solar spectrum and to solar activity such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
Sunspots will get darker in the summer, as they are exposed to more sun, and will lighten in the winter. Sunspots will never be black, however — melanoma can be. In fact, 95% of melanomas are ...