Convective Cells Surrounding Sunspot AR 4114 Reveals Different Shapes, Sizes and Elongation
Taken by Miguel Claro on June 16, 2025 @
Dark Sky® Alqueva, Portugal
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Date Taken: 2025:06:19 16:55:16
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Details:
This is the first light of Soleye 300 dual-band on the photosphere, revealing the shape of convective cells – granulation – in continuum emission with Baader Calcium GENII (Ca-K 5nm filter). The image shows a close-up of a group of sunspots named as Active Region 4114, and if you notice carefully they are surrounded by hundreds of granules. Ground seeing has a role on allowing us to achieve the diffraction limit of the telescope and this is yet far from from its maximum power resolution, but I’m excited to the level of detail just in poor-average seeing conditions, as it seems to be very promising. What are then these Granules? The 4 cropped images at 100% zoom visible below, can easily help to understand the explanation by Dr. Jan Jurcák, from the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic:
“The solar surface is constantly heated from deeper layers. The heating is provided in the form of bubbles of hot material that rise convectively through the sub-surface layers. These convective cells are called granules and appear as bright dots on the solar surface. Their typical size is around 1000 km. Granules are sensitive to the presence of magnetic field. Their shapes, sizes and lifetimes are highly dependent on the magnetic field properties. With increasing field strength, the granules become smaller. In the extreme cases of sunspots, the magnetic field is strong enough to suppress convective motions, the solar surface cools down considerably and appears dark compared to its surroundings. The magnetic field is strongest in the darkest regions, but its presence can be recognised also in other areas, where the granules are smaller, brighter, or very elongated, and in the myriad of tiny bright points sitting in between the granules.“ These images were captured from Dark Sky® Alqueva, Portugal.
Technical details:
Soleye 300 Dual-band | EQ-6 Pro mount | APM + Telecentric Barlow | Player One Apollo 428M Max Pro | Baader filter Calcium GEN-II (Ca-K 5nm) | Stack of 200 frames for each single image, captured in average seeing conditions
Photographer's website:
https://www.miguelclaro.com/wp/portfolio/solar-photosphere-convective-cells-surrounding-sunspot-ar-4114-reveals-different-shapes-sizes-and-elongation/
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