Delta Sunspot

  • Credit

    Naval Research Laboratory

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. 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 Sun's 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.

Metadata

  • Sensor

  • Animation ID

    551

  • Video ID

    SVS1999-0001

  • Start Timecode

    01:01:46:29

  • End Timecode

    01:02:36:07

  • Animator

    Brendan Antiochos

  • Studio

    SVS

  • Visualization Date

    1999/01/21

  • Scientist

    C. Richard DeVore (Naval Research Laboratory), Spiro Antiochos (Naval Research Laboratory), John Gardner (Naval Research Laboratory)

  • Keywords

    Sunspots, Magnetic Fields

  • DLESE Subject

    Space science

  • Data Date

    None

  • Animation Type

    Regular