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Introduction

It has conducted a thorough and detailed study of these techniques with the purpose of processing images of the solar photosphere. The photosphere is the area from which is emitted most of the visible light from the sun and it is there where you can see darker areas called sunspots. Throughout the solar cycle, the sun undergoes changes in its electromagnetic field causing these stains which are studied in this project.

The importance of research of the Sun and the activity of sunspots is that they are directly responsible for the eruptions of material that occurs at the solar surface. When these materials reach the Earth, producing a geomagnetic storm, the most visible impact is the aurora borealis. However, we also produce other negative effects such as damage to satellites and even overhead and power.

After conducting a study of the photosphere and see different images to draw conclusions about the morphology of sunspots, has developed a procedure based on computer vision techniques described above, with the aim of identifying and estimating the area sunspots in the photosphere.

Detail

Sunspots are dark areas in the solar photosphere, the area from which emits most of the visible light from the sun.

A typical sunspot consists of a central dark umbra surrounded by a known region called penumbra clearer. Both areas appear darker because its temperature is cooler than the average temperature of the photosphere. Penumbra is formed by the structure of light and dark filaments that extend radially from the umbra.

Sunspots

Sunspots appear, grow, change size and appearance and disappear. The duration is approximately one or two solar rotations, ie for one or two months although the half-life is two weeks. Typically, sunspots, usually appear in pairs. The life cycle can be summed up in that first there was a brilliant call pore formation, the next day and there is a small stain and a few degrees of it, the twin pore appears and another spot, a few days, the two spots have the appearance umbra and penumbra characteristic. Together these two may appear smaller. Between the two major spots, there is a magnetic field with an intensity between 0.2 and 0.4 T (Tesla).

The origin of the creation of sunspots is still under investigation, yet it is quite clear that sunspots are the visible aspect of the magnetic flux tube that forms beneath the photosphere. In these tubes the pressure and density are lower and therefore rise and cool. When the tube force breaks the surface of the photosphere when the pore is that, as mentioned before, is a region brighter than the rest, and is there when the cycle of sunspots.

The opposite polarity is observed in the pairs of spots is because one of them the magnetic field is emerging while the other is re-introduced into the interior.

Bipolarity of sunspots

All sunspots in both hemispheres at latitudes ranging from 5 º to 40 º. Solar activity occurs in cycles of about eleven years. The point of high solar activity during this cycle is known as the solar maximum, the point of activity and lower the solar minimum. At the beginning of a cycle, sunspots tend to appear in the higher latitudes (40 º) and as the cycle approaches the maximum spots appear more often and increasingly less latitude (near equator) until it reaches the maximum. While this is the first spots appear in the next cycle at a latitude of about 40 degrees. This is called the law of Spörer.

Representation for each cycle of the spotted area of the surface depending on latitude, provides a diagram in the shape of a butterfly called Maunder diagram.

Butterfly diagram

This chart shows the position of sunspots in the years 1870 and 1995. Note the center, from left to right, is the ecuador del Sol, and the stains will occur in North and South.

The study of sunspots is that, from them, you can learn about solar activity and how this activity affects the earth.

In this application have participated:

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Image gallery

Below is a gallery of images used as examples of the application.

To download the images (which previously had to be uncompressed to estimate automatically), click here  Download .

 

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{tab-requisitos=Web Application}

This is a new application.

We recommend using the Firefox and Chrome browsers.

{tab-requisitos=Desktop application}

Listed below are the files and packages that need to be installed before running the application:

- JVM (Java Virtual Machine). (Download here).

- Package .NET FRAMEWORK:

• .NET Framework Redistributable Package version 2.0 (x86). (Download here)
• .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK) version 2.0. (Download here)