sunspot

[ suhn-spot ]

noun

1. one of the relatively dark patches that appear periodically on the surface of the sun and affect terrestrial magnetism and certain other terrestrial phenomena.

sunspot

/ ˈsʌnˌspɒt /

noun

1. any of the dark cool patches, with a diameter of up to several thousand kilometres, that appear on the surface of the sun and last about a week. They occur in approximately 11-year cycles and possess a strong magnetic field
2. informal.
   a sunny holiday resort
3. a small cancerous spot produced by overexposure to the sun

sunspot

/ sŭn′spŏt′ /

1. Any of the dark, irregular spots that usually appear in groups on the surface of the Sun (its photosphere ), lasting from a few days to several weeks or more. Sunspots appear dark because they are cooler, by up to 1,500°K, than the surrounding photosphere. They are associated with strong magnetic fields and solar magnetic storms moving in a vortex pattern, similar to a tornado on Earth. The number of sunspots waxes and wanes over an 11-year period; at maximum activity there are often increased numbers of solar flares .

Derived Forms

• ˈsunˌspotted, adjective

Other Words From

• sunspotted adjective
• sunspotted·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sunspot¹

First recorded in 1805–15; sun + spot

Example Sentences

His successors later noticed that sunspots often produce bursts of radiation called solar flares.

From Science News

This week, the first image of a sunspot from the high-definition Inouye telescope was finally published.

From Popular-Science

To capture the sunspot, the researchers pointed the telescope’s 13-foot mirror—three times wider than any other solar telescope—towards the central area of the star.

From Popular-Science

This recent sunspot image was captured on January 28 of this year, and it’s just one part of a bigger series.

From Popular-Science

The largest solar telescope on Earth has gotten the sharpest glimpse ever of a sunspot.

From Science News

And Bishop, Colossus, Warpath, Blink, Sunspot, Quiksilver, Stryker and Havoc will all be there too.

From The Daily Beast

For even this great sunspot was but small as compared with the Sun as a whole.

From Project Gutenberg

They would not be strictly accurate, because a sunspot could knock all meaning out of any reading beyond two decimal places.

From Project Gutenberg

The sunspot cycle has appeared to average 11.2 years in length, and has been called the 11-year cycle.

From Project Gutenberg

That is, you cannot connect a particular sunspot group with a particular S-Region.

From Project Gutenberg

It means you can only approximately predict the future course of sunspot activity.

From Project Gutenberg