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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? $\endgroup$ Feb 6, 2018 at 23:46
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    $\begingroup$ I think he wants to know about the vertical shape. $\endgroup$
    – Phiteros
    Feb 7, 2018 at 0:06
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    $\begingroup$ Can't fool me: your first picture isn't a sunspot. It's the Eye of Sauron $\endgroup$ Feb 7, 2018 at 14:27
  • $\begingroup$ That is really a sun spot. But they may have used it. $\endgroup$
    – Muze
    Feb 7, 2018 at 16:59

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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.

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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.

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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:

https://youtu.be/BejRxZAa66E

https://youtu.be/l1VpMRMg4P4

https://youtu.be/T5MnZUINzjY

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