What is a sunspot? What is the impact on human beings?

Observing the sun through ordinary optical telescopes, we observe the activities of the photosphere (the innermost layer of the sun's atmosphere). You can often see many black spots on the photosphere, called sunspots. The size, number, location and shape of sunspots on the sun's surface are different every day. Sunspot is a local strong magnetic field formed by the violent movement of photosphere, and it is an important symbol of photosphere activity. Long-term observation of sunspots will show that there are many sunspots in some years, few sunspots in some years, and sometimes there are no sunspots in the sun for several days or dozens of days. Astronomers have long noticed that there is an interval of 1 1 year from the year with the most (or least) sunspots to the next year with the most (or least) sunspots. In other words, the average activity period of sunspots is 1 1, which is also the activity period of the whole sun. Astronomers call the darkest year of the sun "the peak year of solar activity" and the year with the least sunspots "the quiet year of solar activity".

Sunspot is a kind of solar activity on the photosphere, and it is the most basic and obvious phenomenon in solar activity. It is generally believed that sunspots are actually a huge vortex of hot gas on the surface of the sun, with a temperature of about 4500 degrees Celsius. It looks like some black spots because it is lower than the surface temperature of the photosphere of the sun. Sunspots rarely move alone. Often appear in groups. The activity cycle is 1 1.2 years. At that time, it will cause damage to the earth's magnetic field and various electronic products and appliances. Sunspot is a kind of solar activity on the photosphere, and it is the most basic and obvious phenomenon in solar activity. It is generally believed that sunspots are actually a huge vortex of hot gas on the surface of the sun, with a temperature of about 4500 degrees Celsius. It looks like some black spots because it is lower than the surface temperature of the photosphere of the sun. Sunspots rarely move alone. Often appear in groups. The activity cycle is 1 1.2 years. At that time, it will cause damage to the earth's magnetic field and various electronic products and appliances.

Characteristics of sunspots

A well-developed sunspot consists of a darker core and a brighter part around it, with a depression of about 500 kilometers in the middle. Sunspots often appear in pairs or groups, and most of them are composed of two main sunspots. Those located in the west are called "leading sunspots" and those located in the east are called "following sunspots". A small sunspot is about 1000 km, and a large sunspot can reach 200000km.

The formation of sunspots is closely related to the solar magnetic field. But how did he form? Astronomers have not found the exact answer to this question. The more sunspots there are, the older the sun may be (in recent years, it has been found that sunspots on red dwarfs occupy half of the surface, see the third issue of China in 2005), or it may be a common feature of the life span of all stars. Sunspots may be nuclear waste from the sun (such as nuclear waste from human nuclear reactors). It happens about once a year 1 1, which may be that sunspots turn up and down inside and on the surface of the sun (for example, Yuanxiao is cooked up and down in a pot). The low temperature of sunspots should also be a proof of wasting materials (for example, charcoal ash in a coal stove generally cannot produce high temperature), and the temperature around sunspots should be higher than that in the normal place of the sun (the reason for this change). Due to the low density and rotation of the sun, sunspots move to low latitudes. Just as the continental plate on the earth moves to low latitudes, there is a depression of 500 kilometers where there are sunspots, which may be the reason why the temperature is low and it no longer expands. In addition, it is particularly important that sunspots affect the magnetic field, not the magnetic field.

Observe history

The earliest record of sunspots in the world was in Huainanzi written by China around 140 BC. The records of sunspots in the first 28 years are more detailed in Records of the Five Elements in Hanshu.

1840s, an amateur astronomer in Germany discovered the periodic variation law of sunspot10-1year. Through long-term observation, it is also found that the latitude distribution of sunspot activity on the solar surface changes with time. At first, almost all sunspots were distributed at a latitude of 30. When the solar activity is intense, it often appears in 15, gradually moves to the low latitude area and disappears at 8 o'clock. When the sunspot in the last cycle has not completely disappeared, the sunspot in the next cycle will appear near 30 north latitude. If the latitude of sunspots is taken as the ordinate and time as the abscissa, then the distribution map of sunspots is very similar to that of butterflies, so it is called butterfly map. Many experts have studied the meaning of butterfly diagram, but until now there is no clear conclusion.

The periodicity of sunspots

Astronomers began to count sunspot activities from 1755, and stipulated that the average activity period of sunspots was 1 1.2 years. The year with the least sunspots is the beginning year of a cycle, which is called the "minimum year of solar activity" and the year with the most sunspots is called the "maximum year of sunspot activity".