Sunspots are concentrations of magnetic flux, typically occurring in bipolar clusters or groups.
They appear dark because they are cooler than the surrounding photosphere. During this investigation, students will learn to use computer image processing techniques to measure the size of sunspots and analyze various phenomena visible on sun system images. These skills can be used to scale and analyze images of our Sun, the planets, or any other electronic image found on the Internet. To do this, you need to download an image format converter program. You can get programs for either the MAC or PC platform by clicking on the highlighted words in the materials list.