Sunspots rise vertically? Do they float on the surface like oil? Do they flow up or down vertically from the Sun's core like a lava lamp?
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$\begingroup$ I don't understand what's being asked here. How can we describe the shape of a sunspot better than a picture on Google images? $\endgroup$– Sir CumferenceFeb 6, 2018 at 23:46
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1$\begingroup$ I think he wants to know about the vertical shape. $\endgroup$– PhiterosFeb 7, 2018 at 0:06
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2$\begingroup$ Can't fool me: your first picture isn't a sunspot. It's the Eye of Sauron $\endgroup$– Carl WitthoftFeb 7, 2018 at 14:27
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$\begingroup$ That is really a sun spot. But they may have used it. $\endgroup$– MuzeFeb 7, 2018 at 16:59
1 Answer
The sunspots are actually depressions and low thermal pressure zones.
Incredible magnetic fields are piercing the surface of the sun and the magnetic force pacifies the movement and the convection at the zone of the sunspot. that's why the surface becomes darker clouds near those magnetic fields.
Elsewhere, the sun's surface has convection wells called solar granules a bit like a lava lamp, which are about 1000km diameter. You can check images of "solar convection" to study maps of convection.
At a sunspot the movement of colder plasma flows downwards, and there is a hot spot trapped under the sunpot where the thermal energy escapes radially away from the sunspot.
This is a video attempting to illustrate the view under the sun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU9O8SmCHFQ
This is a virtual simulation of them. The versions are wildly different:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5dldC5dPMk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN_9HMVXjY0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARIJx0geaOE
here is a speeded up video of some sunspots: