Sunspot-bfly.gif


Summary

Description
English: Daily sunspot area averaged over individual solar rotations. This is colloquially known as the "Butterfly Diagram".

Detailed observations of sunspots have been obtained by the Royal Greenwich Observatory since 1874. These observations include information on the sizes and positions of sunspots as well as their numbers. These data show that sunspots do not appear at random over the surface of the sun but are concentrated in two latitude bands on either side of the equator. A butterfly diagram (updated monthly) showing the positions of the spots for each rotation of the sun since May 1874 shows that these bands first form at mid-latitudes, widen, and then move toward the equator as each cycle progresses.

— NASA, http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/SunspotCycle.shtml
Date 2013, NASA version 2013/11 shown here.
Source http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/images/bfly.gif
Author David Hathaway, NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center
Permission
( Reusing this file )
Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA . NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted ". (See Template:PD-USGov , NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy .)
Warnings:

Original upload log

The original description page was here . All following user names refer to en.wikipedia.
Date/Time Dimensions User Comment
2013-11-07 19:24 1950×500× (88047 bytes) Grolltech updated to version 2013/11.
2012-03-09 05:08 1950×500× (87477 bytes) Speight crop to match earlier versions
2012-03-09 05:02 2048×1280× (137615 bytes) Speight updated version 2012-03
2011-04-22 04:16 1950×500× (90310 bytes) 孟柏民 another update
2009-09-08 04:52 2048×506× (90295 bytes) 孟柏民 updated version
2007-05-31 13:32 1872×500× (77217 bytes) Paulchar Author: David Hathaway, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov). Public-domain image.