Sunspots

Sunspots are spots on the sun that seem darker and are cooler than the rest of the sun’s surface. They are caused by the sun’s magnetic field coming up to the surface, the photosphere. They are areas of intense magnetic activity, and can cause “solar storms”, which are solar flares and prominences. Sunspots can be 50,000 miles in diameter, and move across the sun, expanding and contracting as they go.

Names by Galileo himself, Aurora Borealis (A Latin term that translates to Red Dawn) is formed when  solar particles are thrown out of the sun, They collide with the atmosphere, creating light. When millions of these types of collisions happen, it creates what we know as, The Northern Lights. The higher number of sunspots, the more often and the  larger the Aurora Borealis.

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~ by supersunscience on October 19, 2009.

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