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Last Post 3/2/2005 12:54 PM by Terry Kucera

sunspots

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3/2/2005 7:18 AM
Terry L How come there are never sunspots near the sun's poles?

Terry Kucera

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3/2/2005 12:54 PM
Hi Terry L. I think we really don't know the answer to that question for sure - and it is an important one. We think the locations of sunspots are related to flows inside the Sun. At the start of an 11 year sunspot cycle sunspots appear about 35 degrees away from the poles and then move towards the equator as the solar cycle goes on. Dawn describes this in her answer to Michael S.'s question about sunspot patterns (http://www.solarweek.org/...s/35/ShowPost.aspx). I think I'll also echo her mention of the National Geographic article at http://news.nationalgeogr...050205_sunspots.html I don't think we really know why the pattern doesn't start closer to the poles. There is a group studying spots on other stars that think there are stars cooler than the Sun which may have huge spots on their poles. You can see a picture of what they think it might look like near the top of this page of Karel Schrijver's http://canopy.lmsal.com/s...coolstarimages5.html Terry K.