Category Archives: sunspots

224. Moderate Nesting and Cross-Equatorial Asymmetry of Active Regions in Solar Cycle 24

Contributed by Aimee Norton. Posted on April 3, 2026

HMI data from Solar Cycle 24 data are used to determine how often the Sun emerges sunspots in activity nests. It is found that the Sun shows moderate nesting behavior with 41% (48%) of AR magnetic flux found in northern (southern) hemisphere located in nests. The maximum number of nests are found with slightly prograde rotational velocities, and the nesting behavior is asymmetric in the hemispheres.

201. Study of Bipolar Magnetic Regions using AutoTAB: Support of Thin Flux Tube Model?

Contributed by Bidya Karak. Posted on July 4, 2024

This study analyzes a few properties of evolving bipolar magnetic regions: separation of polarities, tilt angles, and tilt angle and flux relations. The analysis supports that the bipolar regions form from thin-flux tubes and Coriolis force plays an important role in forming the regions.

184. Measuring the Compactness of Active Regions

Contributed by Kelvin Moresi. Posted on August 10, 2022

Compactness is one geometric property of a sunspot group that has not yet been systematically quantified. We calculate the compactness of a small sample of δ-spots and β-spots using a minimum bounding circle. On average, the δ-spots are found to be more than twice as compact as the β-spots.

93. Formation of Penumbra in A Sample of Active Regions Observed by the SDO Satellite

Contributed by Mariarita Murabito. Posted on March 29, 2018

Where does a sunspot’s penumbra start to form, on the same side or the opposite side of its opposite-polarity sunspot? When does Evershed flow start to appear, before or after the penumbral formation? These questions are answered through analyzing selected samples observed by the HMI.

90. A Comparative Study of the Eruptive and Non-Eruptive Flares Produced by the Largest Active Region of Solar Cycle 24

Contributed by Ranadeep Sarkar. Posted on March 18, 2018

AR12192, the largest active region in Solar Cycle 24, produced 6 X-class flares, but none of them were associated with a CME. However, a much weaker flare, of M4.0-class, was associated with a CME. Magnetic field and morphological changes are analyzed during these flares to understand why this is the case.

70. Magnetic Flux Emergence & Decay Rates for Sunspots Observed with HMI

Contributed by Aimee Norton. Posted on May 23, 2017

We quantify the emergence and decay rates of ten bipolar active regions using vector magnetic field data from HMI. Our results, placed in context with other observational and modeling results in the literature, confirm a trend that higher flux regions emerge faster and the rate is dependent on the total flux of that region.