sun pot

Sunspots are temporary magnetic disturbances in the surface of the Sun. They are cooler (6,700° F) and darker than the surrounding photosphere, which usually hovers around 10,300° F. As of July 23rd, a sunspot group, collectively named sunspot 652, is pointed directly at Earth. Sunspot 652 has grown 20 times larger than our planet and can be seen with the naked eye. If this sunspot should let loose, it could produce severe space weather. "The implications of this spot have scientists on the edge of their seats," NASA said in a statement Friday. "If the active region generates coronal mass ejections (CMEs), massive explosions with a potential force of a billion megaton bombs, it will be a fairly direct hit to Earth and its satellites and power grids." Read more at

The Sun is a yellow dwarf star, which means it is a medium size star. It is believed to be over 4 billion years old. The diameter of our the Sun, is 1,392,000 kilometers. The Sun spins slowly on its axis as it revolves around the galaxy. The center, or core, of the Sun is very hot. A process called "nuclear fusion" takes place there. Nuclear fusion produces a lot of energy. Some of this energy travels out into space as heat and light. Streams of gas particles known as the solar wind also flow out from the Sun. Sunspots regularly appear and disappear in eleven year cycles. Solar flares are spectacular discharges of magnetic energy from the corona. These discharges send streams of protons and electrons outward into space. Solar flares can interrupt the communications network here on Earth. Solar winds are the result of gas expansion in the corona. This expansion leads to ion formation. These ions are hurled outward from the corona at over 500 kilometers per second. Solar prominences are storms of gas which erupt from the surface in the form of columns which either shoot outward into space or twist and loop back to the Sun's surface. On the Sun's surface, we can see storms. We call these storms "sunspots" because they look like dark spots on the Sun's surface. The Sun also produces big explosions of energy called solar flares. These flares shoot fast moving particles off the Sun's surface. These particles can hit the Earth's atmosphere atmosphere and cause a glow called an aurora.