by According to the report made by NASA, the dark spots on the Sun, are the Sun’s gases. And they explain: “The Sun’s gases are in constant motion, which entangles, stretches and distorts the magnetic fields. This motion creates a lot of activity on the Sun’s surface, called solar activity,” NASA said. Despite the explanation, there was a lot of curiosity and concern around it. Learn more.
The dark spot on the Sun is reverberating online
Images of the sun with a giant dark spot are going viral online, after Girl In Space posted the images on Twitter.
The post’s caption read: “One of the largest sunspots in years, AR3190 (4 times wider than Earth), crosses the solar disk and can be seen with the naked eye. Be sure to wear safety sunglasses to protect your eyes.”
Girl In Space added: “The stain is about to burst. #AR3190 has an unstable ‘beta-g-delta’ magnetic field that harbors energy for X-class solar flares. Any flares will be geo-effective because the sunspot is almost directly pointed at Earth.”
These sunspots are temporary, occur in the Sun’s photosphere and have temperatures between 2000-4000 K, while material outside the sunspot has temperatures above 5000 K.
The temperature drop in these regions is caused by the presence of strong magnetic fields, which prevent the convection of the solar photosphere, reducing the flow of energy from the interior of the Sun and, consequently, reducing the surface temperature of this region.
The spot is dark because the surrounding is so bright that the local contrast makes us perceive the spot as a black spot. Sunspots have lighter regions at the edges, which is due to the weakening of the magnetic field.
Are sunspots a danger?
This sunspot is not very dangerous, although it can explode at any moment. We are talking about a region of the Sun that has a large concentration of magnetic field. This matter is trapped in the form of plasma, a very hot and ionized gas.
These points can cause an X-class explosion, an explosion that gathers very intense explosions. Consequently, radio waves, X-rays, and gamma rays can be released into space, possibly reaching Earth.
The consequences on the planet after being hit by these rays are of two kinds: the formation of a beautiful northern lights and the disruption of communication technologies such as radios and satellites.
