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Like the centre of a flower or a mysterious eye, this is the most detailed image of a sunspot ever captured using visible light. The stunning picture was taken using the Big Bear Telescope in California and is the best photo of a huge sunspot that is around 13,000km in diameter.
At the centre of the sunspot the temperature is around 3,600C, while the surrounding regions are much hotter, more than 5,800C. The irregular shapes that surround the sunspot are known as granulation and are made of hot gas rising from inside the Sun. Each one is around 1000km in size.
The telescope that took the picture is know as the New Solar Telescope which uses adaptive optics, parts that change to adapt to disturbances in the atmosphere and correct distortions in the signals. Scientists believe magnetic structures, like sunspots, hold an important key to understanding space weather. Space weather, which originates in the Sun, can have dire consequences on Earth's climate and environment.
The telescope has a resolution covering about 50 miles on the Sun's surface. The Big Bear Observatory is located in a clear mountain lake which is known for its atmospheric stability. The images were taken by the NST with atmospheric distortion corrected by its 97 actuator deformable mirror.
The NST will be the pathfinder for an even larger ground-based telescope, the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), to be built over the next decade.