Solar Magnetic Field - from Solar Minimum to Solar Maximum

The solar magnetic field, constructed from measured magnetograms and extended with the potential field source surface (PFSS) model.

For the magnetograms, measured on the solar photosphere, grey represents a very low magnetic field intensity, a gauss or so. Sunspots are regions of strong magnetic fields and appear as white and black splotches on the surface, with black and white regions often grouped together. White represents North magnetic polarity with maximum fields intensities of several thousand gauss, while black represents South magnetic intensity, also on the order of several thousand gauss.

For the magnetic field lines, we present two different color 'standards'. The green/magenta convention is common in a number of solar physics graphics tools, with green corresponding to the positive (North) field and magenta as the negative (South) field. The red/blue field line convention is common in classroom descriptions of magnetism, with red corresponding to the positive (North) field and blue as the negative (South) field. The white field lines are 'closed', extending outward, and connecting back to the solar photosphere.

In this visualization we observe the evolution of the Sun's magnetic field from solar minimum (where there are few sunspots and the polar fields are grouped together) and the magnetic field is relatively orderly, in this case with the north polarity field lines are grouped together near the 'top' of the Sun and the south polarity fields are grouped together near the 'bottom' of the Sun. As solar activity evolves towards solar maximum, the fields become more 'random' with open field lines of north and south polarity migtrating towards the opposite hemisphere and sunspots appearing as groups of white and black regions.