Sunspots are areas that appear dark on the surface of the Sun. They appear dark because they are cooler than other parts of the Sun’s surface. The temperature of a sunspot is still very hot though—around 6,500 degrees Fahrenheit!
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What causes the dark spots on the Sun?
Sunspots are cooler parts of the Sun’s surface caused by massive changes in the Sun’s magnetic field.
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Are sunspots really as dark as they appear?
It turns out that sunspots aren’t actually black. Rather, the darkness is just an optical illusion created by the contrasting heat of sunspots and their surroundings. “Sunspots are only dark in contrast to the bright face of the sun,” according to the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).
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Why are sunspots cooler and look darker?
Although the exact details of sunspot formation are not fully understood, they are coincident with areas of increased magnetic field. These intense magnetic fields appear to suppress the release of heat into the photosphere, thus making sunspots cooler than their surroundings by a couple of thousand degrees Celsius.
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Are sunspots actually dark?
Sunspots appear dark because they are cooler than their surroundings. Large sunspots are thousands of degrees cooler than the areas that surround them (about 4,200 °C for a sunspot compared to 6,000 °C for the photosphere surrounding it). Sunspots are only dark in contrast to the bright face of the Sun.
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What is thought to be the reason that sunspots are cool and dark?
Sunspots are cooler parts of the Sun’s surface caused by massive changes in the Sun’s magnetic field.
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Why are sunspots cool and dark?
Why Are Sunspots Dark? Sunspots appear dark because they are cooler than their surroundings. Large sunspots are thousands of degrees cooler than the areas that surround them (about 4,200 °C for a sunspot compared to 6,000 °C for the photosphere surrounding it).
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What causes the sunspots to be cooler than their surroundings?
Because of the strong magnetic field, the magnetic pressure increases while the surrounding atmospheric pressure decreases. This in turn lowers the temperature relative to its surroundings because the concentrated magnetic field inhibits the flow of hot, new gas from the Sun’s interior to the surface.
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Why are sun spots darker?
They appear dark because they are cooler than other parts of the Sun’s surface. The temperature of a sunspot is still very hot though—around 6,500 degrees Fahrenheit!
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Why are sunspots cooler and darker than the rest of the photosphere?
As well as being a darker area on the sun, a sunspot is an area that temporarily has a concentrated magnetic field. This magnetic force inhibits the convective motion, which ordinarily brings hot matter up from the interior of the sun, so the area of the sunspot is cooler than the surrounding plasma and gas.
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