What causes solar flares and sunspots?

A sunspot is a cooler, and therefore darker, region of the Sun's photosphere caused by a solar magnetic disturbance. Strong, dense magnetic fields generated by circulating plasma sometimes become entangled and surge through the photosphere, creating the sunspot. read more

Because solar flares form in the same active regions as sunspots, they are connected to these smaller, less violent events. Flares tend to follow the same 11-year cycle. At the peak of the cycle, several flares may occur each day, with an average lifetime of only 10 minutes. read more

Sunspots are storms on the sun’s surface that are marked by intense magnetic activity and play host to solar flares and hot gassy ejections from the sun’s corona. Scientists believe that the number of spots on the sun cycles over time, reaching a peak—the so-called Solar Maximum—every 11 years or so. read more

The plasma gets so hot that it glows brightly in X-rays. Solar flares are characterized in size by the peak X-ray flux they emit in certain wavelengths. Sunspots are often the source of solar flares because the magnetic field in sunspots is larger than elsewhere, so the energy stored in the twisted field can be much greater. read more