Sun ID: 551

Delta Sunspot

Visualizations by Brendan Antiochos Released on January 21, 1999

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.".

Visualization Credits

Brendan Antiochos (NASA): Lead Animator
Spiro Antiochos (Naval Research Laboratory): Scientist
C. Richard DeVore (Naval Research Laboratory): Scientist
John Gardner (Naval Research Laboratory): Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
Naval Research Laboratory

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/551

This item is part of this series:
Images of Earth and Space

Keywords:
SVS >> Magnetic Fields
DLESE >> Space science
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Sunspots
NASA Science >> Sun

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0