Sunspot Metamorphosis: From Bottom to Top
			
		
		
		
			Sunspots -- magnets the size of the Earth -- are 
normally seen flat on the Sun.   
The above digital metamorphosis, however, shows a 
sunspot as it appears at increasing heights, effectively in three dimensions.  
The above false-colored image sequence of solar active region AR 10675 was taken in three very specific colors that effectively isolate 
different layers 
above the solar surface.  
The first images show the Sun's photospheric 
surface as it normally appears, covered with 
granules.  
The large dark sunspot sports a clear dark 
umbra in the center surrounded by a lighter penumbra. 
Images appearing toward the middle of the sequence show the 
Sun 
as in light predominantly emitted a few hundred kilometers above the 
photosphere.  
At this height, the continent sized 
bubbling granules appear reversed, 
and long lines of constant 
magnetic force begin to appear.  
The last images show the Sun at a few thousand kilometers into the 
chromosphere.  
Here magnetic field lines can be clearly followed outward from the 
sunspot to distant regions.