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Last Post 3/22/2011 10:39 PM by Yan Li

Sunspots vs Solar Flares

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Anonymous

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3/22/2011 6:58 PM
First I would like to thank you all for taking your time to answer these questions! I have shared this information with fellow friends who are teachers in the Nashville, Tennessee area. I have a couple of questions. What is the difference between a solar flare and a sunspot? When looking at information regarding sunspots they are numbered, what does that mean and how are those numbers issued? And lastly, are solar flares stronger than sunspots in regards to the effects or an effect it can have on Earth?

Tags: sunspots, solar flares

Yan Li

New Member

Posts:55

3/22/2011 10:39 PM
Hi, Sunspots are small areas that appear darker than their surrounding solar surface. Sunspot areas have strong magnetic field. Occasionally the strong magnetic field in a sunspot is overly twisted and decides to fire up like 'fire works'. Those 'fire works' are solar flares and they are above sunspots. Sunspots last for a bit shorter than a day to several days. Flares are much shorter and last for a few seconds to a few hours. Yan