whats this black spot on sun?

hi all,

i have been checking spaceweather.com for a few months now for sunspots.

for the last week or two there has been a black spot visible on the sun, just to the bottom/right of centre, but spaceweather says nothing about it.

maybe its just that i am pretty dumb and uneducated in this field, but there has been no explanation at all.

can someone with some knowledge of this shed some light on it. this has been here for 2 weeks and its not the emerging sunspots it mentions today.

www.spaceweather.com...

maybe someone can zoom in and highlight this, tried but dont know how to get it on to this post. cheers.


[edit on 15-3-2009 by grantbeed]

reply to post by grantbeed



I don't see it.
But right underneath it says

The sun is blank, but maybe not for long. Two proto-sunspots are simmering near the sun's equator. Their locations are shown in this magnetogram. Credit: SOHO/MDI

not sure how to get this zoomed in but its in this region


its not the emerging sunspots as mentioned as this black spot has been here for 2wks!!

[edit on 15-3-2009 by grantbeed]

Isn't that the whole that is releasing all of the energy causing our magnetic field to act up?

www.abovetopsecret.com...


[edit on 15-3-2009 by NateNute]

reply to post by grantbeed


I put my glasses on.

I took them off.

I cleaned the screen.

I still can't see it.

I'm old.

But not so old that I can't see the arrow.

You'll just to wait for someone with younger eyes.

hehe,

i thought it was my screen too, but its definatley there. around 3 sunspots have came and gone in the last 2wks. there has been no mention of this black spot at all.

it does not even look like any other sunspots that emerge.

There's a little black spot on the sun today

It's the same old thing as yesterday

There's a black hat caught in a high tree top

There's a flag-pole rag and the wind won't stop

---The Police

Those are sun spots

A sunspot is a region on the Sun's surface (photosphere) that is marked by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection, forming areas of reduced surface temperature. They can be visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope. Although, they are at temperatures of roughly 4,000–4,500 K, the contrast with the surrounding material at about 5,800 K leaves them clearly visible as dark spots, as the intensity of a heated black body (closely approximated by the photosphere) is a function of T (temperature) to the fourth power. If a sunspot were isolated from the surrounding photosphere it would be brighter than an electric arc.
en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 3/15/09 by FredT]

reply to post by grantbeed


I see the spot, plain as day on my computer screen.

I think the Sun just put a spot there so that you would ask others about it.

need someone who is a whizz to zoom in here and highlight this.

cheers,

Originally posted by NateNute
Isn't that the whole that is releasing all of the energy causing our magnetic field to act up?

www.abovetopsecret.com...


[edit on 15-3-2009 by NateNute]

That's the Coronal Holes
scroll down to the green one
www.spaceweather.com...

solar wind stream flowing from the indicated coronal hole should reach Earth on March 19th or 20th. Credit: SOHO Extreme UV Telescope

That one I can see.

reply to post by FredT


Actually, I have never heard any decent police covers until I heard Mudvayne's version of that song.. It's remarkably good..

Anyhoo, I checked out the OP's image and I think I now see what he means.

Here is the image with the little black spot in the center of this black circle.


And here is the same area with a 4x zoom and cropped
The spot is in the center:


Anyway, i think this is what he meant. It looks to be a simple sunspot. It could, technically, also be some kind of glitch if it is continuous like this. But normally the sun will rotate slightly day to day (because as many don't know the sun really does rotate). If it was a sunspot it should be slightly moved day to day as the sun rotates a full 360 degrees every 25 days or so.

So one could technically keep an eye on it to see if the movement correlates with this rotational period.

-ChriS



[edit on 16-3-2009 by BlasteR]

reply to post by grantbeed


All I see is a black arrow...ing straight for the center of the sun! We're doomed!

Just kidding, in all seriousness, what are you referencing? If what you say is true, this is an interesting development. I see a tiny black dot just below and to the right of the tip of the arrow, but I don't know if that is a result of the black pen.

i have been seeing this black spot here in the same place for 2wks. it looks totally different from any sunspots that have came up and spaceweather have not mentioned this at all.

maybe it is a glitch?

That is one of the biggest sunspots I have seen in a while.. Good find..

I wonder what our sun is doing these days. Is it a normal cycle or is it doing something different? All that we can do is keep watching it and making sure we still have a future before the sun blows up.

Originally posted by BlasteR
Here is the image with the little black spot in the center of this black circle.

I'm seeing only red spot in that black circle. I don't see a black spot? *head scratching*

The other link doesn't loading.

well whatever it is, its still there folks. space weather still saying no sunspots, but this thing has been there for weeks now. not sure if its getting bigger?

There was a coronal hole opened up 10 days back, that could have something to do with it.

no, this has been here for weeks. about 3 wks now since i first noticed it and it been there ever since and never mentioned once.

Ok then maybe its the leftovers from 10th of feburary where a large solar flare occurred.
The image is close to the same area of the sun.
www.spaceweather.com...
image

possibly is, its weird how spaceweather staes the sun is clear though?