Other Features

If you were to look at the image of the sun through a telescope, you may see some of its other features, which include sunspots, solar flares, and solar prominences.

Sunspots

Sunspots are irregularly shaped dark patches found on the photosphere. They are called thus only because they are cooler than the rest of the sun’s surface and appear darker. However, if they were taken out of the sun, they would have the same brightness as a full moon.

Sunspots are formed over a period of days or weeks and a sunspot can last for weeks or even months. They do not appear on the photosphere singularly but in groups of ten to as many as a hundred.

Solar Flares

Sometimes regions around groups of sunspots become more active and produce solar flares, or sudden and violent explosions from the photosphere. Although scientists are still unable to determine their cause, many of them attribute the occurrence of flares to sudden changes in the sun’s magnetic field. A flare may last for only a few minutes but can release energy that is equivalent to millions of bombs.