Скачать или смотреть Supercomputers Solve Mysteries Of Sunspots

Sunspots have fascinated mankind right from their first detection. Their mere existence challenged science and philosophy when it was recognized that the sun, once believed to be pure and unchanging, was indeed not.

Now, state-of-the art telescopes, combined with the muscle of a supercomputer called "Bluefire," are allowing scientists to come to a physics understanding of sunspots and to accurately model their structure and dynamics.

"Sunspots are the manifestation of very strong magnetic fields at the solar surface," said Michael Knölker, the director of the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo. "They are cooler than their surroundings. This is why we see them as dark spots on an otherwise much brighter solar disc."

Knölker and Matthias Rempel, both astrophysicists, are developing new computer models of sunspots with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Credit: National Science Foundation