The Sunspot Cycle
These two pictures show the Sun and some sunspots. Do you see how the number of sunspots changes? The picture on the left was taken near solar max. It shows many sunspots. The picture on the right was taken near solar min. It doesn't have any sunspots in it at all!
Click on image for full size (62K JPEG)
Windows to the Universe original artwork by Randy Russell.
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This graph shows the number of sunspots counted each year for many years. Can you see how the number of sunspots changes? Can you see the 11-year sunspot cycle?
Click on image for full size (8K GIF)
Windows to the Universe original artwork by Randy Russell.
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The number of sunspots seen
on
the Sun changes from year to year. The number of sunspots goes up and down in
a cycle. The length of the cycle is about eleven years on average.
The Sunspot Cycle was discovered in 1843 by Samuel Heinrich Schwabe, a German astronomer.
If you put your finger on the chart to the left, you can follow the Sunpot Cycle. Start low in 1954 and go up and up until around 1959, then start to go down until 1964. Then it's up again. When your finger reaches one of the orange peaks, this is called
"solar maximum" (or "solar
max"). When you come to a valley, it is called "solar
minimum" (or "solar min"). Solar max is where the most sunspots are seen. Solar min is where the lowest number of sunspots are seen.
Look at the chart to see if you were born closest to a solar max or solar min. Solar max is when the Sun is usually very active and there may be more solar
flares and coronal mass ejections. So now you can see if you were born in an active or a quiet time for the Sun!
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Sunspots
The Solar Cycle
History of Sunspot Observations
Activity: Graphing Sunspot Cycles
Movie: Magnetic Field Lines Tangle as Sun Rotates
Movie: Rotating Sun with Sunspots
Movie: Dark Days Ahead for the Sun (RealVideo courtesy of the National Science Foundation)
Picture: Solar Corona at Solar Max and Solar Min
Picture: X-ray Image of the Sun at Solar Max and Solar Min
Sunspot Jigsaw Puzzle
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