Solar facula
Photospheric phenomenon
Solar faculae are bright spots in the photosphere that form in the canyons between solar granules, short-lived convection cells several thousand kilometers across that constantly form and dissipate over timescales of several minutes.
Faculae are produced by concentrations of magnetic field lines. Strong concentrations of faculae appear during increased solar activity, with or without sunspots. Faculae and sunspots contribute noticeably to variations in the solar constant. The chromospheric counterpart of a facular region is called a plage.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Solar facula”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Faculae.jpg by Unknown author, Public domain
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