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Unveiling the butterfly diagram structure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2011

Maurizio Ternullo
Maurizio Ternullo*
Affiliation:
INAF – Osservatorio Astrofisico di Cataniav. S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italia email: [email protected]
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Abstract

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A Butterfly Diagram showing the spotted area distribution is presented. The diagram reveals that most of the spotted area is concentrated in few, small portions (“knots”) of the butterfly wings. A knot may appear at either lower or higher latitudes than previous ones, in a seemingly random way; accordingly, the spot mean latitude abruptly drifts equatorward or even poleward at any knot activation, in spite of any smoothing procedure. The description, assuming that spots scatter around the “spot mean latitude” steadily drifting equatorward, is questioned. In a relevant number of cases, knots appear to be arranged in two roughly parallel, oblique streams, the “spot mean latitude” being located in the underspotted band lying between these streams.

Keywords

Sun: activitySun: magnetic fieldsSun: sunspots
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 6 , Symposium S274: Advances in Plasma Astrophysics , September 2010 , pp. 195 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

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