Spotting Sun Spots

Reported September 2006

BATON ROUGE, La. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- While some people relish every sunset, others relish every sun spot.

"Sun spots are huge because the sun is huge. The smallest sun spot you're likely to see on the sun is as big as the Earth is. They're huge," Brad Schaefer, Ph.D., an astronomer at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, tells Ivanhoe.

Schaefer has spent his life viewing sun spots. The dark spots on the sun's surface are actually cooler regions held up by magnetic fields, and they're changing daily.

"You go from a lot of spots down to a little, few spots; up to a lot of spots again," Schaefer says. "And that whole cycle takes, well, it varies, but it takes -- on average -- 11 years."

Before you go looking for spots, a word of caution: Schaefer says you don't want to stare at the sun, because that can cause permanent damage to your eye. Shining a lens at a newspaper burns a hole through it. Staring at the sun does that to your retina.

To look safely at the sun, try welder's glass number 14. You can buy it at any welder supply store. With it, the sun appears green. The sun spots are darker.

Schaefer says, "Simple. Easy to use. Perfectly safe. Just hold 'em up, and look up."

You can also use binoculars, but never look directly at the sun through them. To help block out extra sunlight, cut holes in card stock and fit it over the lenses. Point the lenses at the sun, the eyepiece on white paper, and the sun shows up. Look closely for tiny sun spots.

Amateur astronomer Brendan Ruchlin says, "I think this is really cool that you can look at sun spots like this without blinding yourself."

And who knows? This sun-spotting fun could lead to an astronomical future.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Brad Schaefer, Ph.D.
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
(225) 578-0015
schaefer@lsu.edu

SOHO Sunspots

American Astronomical Society
Washington, DC 20009-1231
(202) 328-2010
aas@aas.org
http://www.aas.org

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