Assuming that sunspots are the result of blocked heat energy, researchers have been trying to understand where that heat goes. The heat must either be diffused into the interior, or else it should appear on the surface as a hotter, bright ring around the spot. Though their presence was predicted 25 years ago, the rings have never been conclusively observed, so current models of solar activity explain their absence by suggesting the heat is dispersed evenly through the Sun's interior. The energy radiates through the middle layer, then bubbles and boils to the surface in a process called convection. The energy is released as the solar wind, charged particles streaming out at a million mph.
Magnetic fields block and redirect some of the energy, creating sunspots.
The rings' presence supports the idea that the spots appear dark because their magnetic fields block heat transport, according to Mark Rast, lead author on a paper appearing in today's issue of the journal Nature. Using the Precision Solar Photometric Telescope at NCAR s Mauna Loa Solar Observatory in Hawaii, Rast found rings around eight spots. The bigger the spot, the hotter and brighter the ring, he said. Instead of an even distribution of heat, as models had predicted, the bright rings indicate a more turbulent and uneven process. Fresh images from the newly revived SOHO spacecraft have pinpointed the source of charged particles emanating from the Sun.