Tag: magnetic field

Largest Sunspots

A sunspot is a region of the Sun’s photosphere that is cooled by a very strong magnetic field, ranging between 1 and 4 kilogauss.  The larger the sunspot, the stronger the magnetic field.  In comparison, the Sun’s average photospheric field strength is around 1 gauss, and the Earth’s surface field strength is around 0.5 gauss.  The strength of the magnetic field at any point on the Sun can be accurately determined by measuring the degree that spectral lines are split due to the Zeeman effect.  Under the influence of a strong magnetic field, individual spectral lines in a hot gas will be split into several adjacent lines at slightly different wavelengths.  The greater the distance (in wavelength) between the sublines, the stronger the magnetic field.

A sunspot is magnetically cooled, then, to a temperature that is 2,300 to 5,000° F cooler than the surrounding photosphere.  Since a cooler gas emits less light, the sunspot appears dark against the hotter and brighter photosphere.  It is a contrast effect.  Large sunspots have the “coolest” temperatures.

Every once in a great while, a really large sunspot forms.  The area covered by a sunspot is usually given in units of “millionths of the Sun’s Earth-facing hemisphere”.  Here are the 10 largest sunspots recorded since 1874.

Rank Month Active Region Size (10-6)
1 Apr 1947 14886 6132
2 Feb 1946 14417 5202
3 May 1951 16763 4865
4 Jul 1946 14585 4720
5 Mar 1947 14851 4554
6 Jan 1926 9861 3716
7 Jan 1938 12673 3627
8 Mar 1989 5395 3600
9 Feb 1917 7977 3590
10 Jul 1938 12902 3379

How big would an Earth-sized sunspot be?  Just 84 millionths of the Sun’s area on its Earth-facing hemisphere.  Far smaller than the giant sunspots listed above!

Polarization of Starlight

The space between stars is not a perfect vacuum. It contains gas molecules and dust grains, although they are few and far between by any terrestrial standard. In the presence of a magnetic field, many types of interstellar dust grains line up in a way that is reminiscent of iron filings near a bar magnet. When light from a star passes through a region of space with magnetically-aligned dust grains (though in this case the short axis of the dust grains aligns with the local magnetic field), light with the electric field vector perpendicular to the long axis of the grains is less likely to be absorbed by the grains than light whose electric field vector is parallel to the long axis of the grains. This causes the light passing through such regions of space to become slightly polarized, and the polarization of starlight is something we can measure easily here on Earth. In this way, the strength and orientation of invisible interstellar or circumstellar magnetic fields can be determined at a distance.

Various astrophysical processes result in polarized electromagnetic radiation.  The differential absorption already mentioned polarizes the light from all stars to one degree or another.  Only the Sun—which is vastly nearer—offers us almost completely unpolarized light. Scattering of light off of interstellar clouds and planetary surfaces also results in polarization.  Finally, both synchrotron and cyclotron emission produce a characteristic polarization.

The polarization of starlight can be measured by the use of a polarimeter attached to the telescope.  Unlike standard photometry, polarization is simpler to measure with ground-based telescopes because the measurements are relative rather than absolute and, under normal circumstances, the Earth’s atmosphere does not affect the polarization state of incoming light.  Care must be taken, however, to ensure that the telescope itself does not create instrumental polarization due to oblique reflections.  Placing the polarimeter at the unfolded Cassegrain focus is one desirable configuration (Hough 2006).

References
Hough, J. 2006, A&G, 47, 3.31