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The Sun’s Magnetic Field Rotation of the Sun Rotates on its axis at different rates. – Sun is gas and plasma, so parts spin at different rates. Sunspot observations can tell how quickly the surface is rotating. – Equatorial region = once every 25 days. – Polar rate = once every 36 days. The interior does not spin the same way as the surface. – Belief is the inner regions (core and radiative zone) rotate more like a solid body. From the convective zone outward, rotation varies with latitude. • Tachocline is the boundary between the inner parts that spin together and the outer parts that spin at different rates . • The behavior of the magnetic field is strongly affected by the combination of convective currents, (move charged plasma from deep within) to the surface, with its different rotation. • Differential rotation is apparently the main driver of the 11-year sunspot cycle and the associated 22-year solar cycle. Sun’s Magnetic Field Large, complex magnetic field extends far out into space. – called the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF). – solar wind = stream of charged particles flowing outward from the Sun, carries the IMF to the planets and beyond. – solar wind and IMF interact with planetary magnetic fields in complex ways, generating phenomena such as the aurora. The basic shape of the Sun's magnetic field is like the shape of Earth’s magnetic field. active regions are places where the magnetic field is especially strong and often produces sunspots. Disruptions in magnetic fields near active regions can cause explosions on the sun such as solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections. • Some of the Sun's magnetism may even be a remnant from the primordial cloud from which the sun formed. • Solar prominences are visible indicators of material flowing along magnetic field lines which arc thousands of kilometers above the Sun's surface. Solar Poles • Like Earth, the sun has a North Pole, a South Pole, and an equator. • About every 11 years, the sun's magnetic poles flip - North becomes South and vice versa. • This flip happens around the peak of the sunspot cycle. – Earth's magnetic poles sometimes flip, too. However, it is usually many thousands to millions of years between flips. • Sunspots only appear near the Sun's equator, between about 40° North and 40° South latitude. • Atmosphere at the poles is also different from the atmosphere above the equator. The corona sticks out further from the sun's surface near the equator. • Solar wind is different at the poles. It "blows" much faster above the poles than it does above the Sun's equator