The appearance of a star's spectrum depends primarily on its temperature. Stefan's Law relates temperature and energy radiated. The release of energy from the Sun is accompanied by a very slight decrease in the mass of the Sun. During the sunspot cycle the position of new sunspots on the Sun changes from mid-latitudes to the equator Most of the Sun's energy is produced in the core. The hottest part of the solar atmosphere is the corona.
Sunspots are regions which are cooler and darker than surrounding material.
The solar wind is composed of charged particles. The sunspot cycle is a period of about 11 years during which the average number of spots rises to a maximum and then sinks again to a minimum. Energy generation in the Sun results from fusion of hydrogen into helium. Sunspot cycles average 11 years in period. Fusion, simply put, is hydrogen conversion into helium.