The Solar Explorer enables student researchers to investigate various aspects of our dynamic Sun, such as the ebb and flow of the solar wind, the characteristics of it's high and low energy constituents, and their effects on the Earth's magnetic field. The following exercises are intended to help you learn how to use the Solar Explorer to plot solar activity over time. When you learn how to select and plot data for these simple exercises you will be ready to select data for other more complicated investigations. Links to further investigations developed by teachers in collaboration with scientists are in the Resources section at the end of this page. Sunspots are large-scale storms on the sun, which appear as dark, roundish areas on the Sun's bright disk.
Sunspots can be many times larger than the entire Earth itself.
These regions are cooler than the rest of the Sun's surface, so they are not as bright. We now realize that sunspots are indicators of many other amazing processes that occur every second, on the surface of the Sun. Sunspot size, shape, location, and numbers change over time. There is further supporting information on this topic in the Resources section below, but for now try plotting some data to answer the question about the sunspot cycle for yourself. Go to the Solar Explorer .