Sunspot 10982

Da "NASA - Picture of the Day", del giorno 6 Febbraio 2008:"A new Solar Cycle has begun on our Sun. Over the past year, the Sun's Magnetic Field has reset and now a new 11 year period is beginning.
Pictured above in a specific color of light emitted by Hydrogen is Sunspot 10982, one of the first sunspots of the new Solar Cycle. The two dark lines visible just above and to either side of the bright sunspot are cool filaments held aloft by the Sun's Magnetic Field. Hot and cold regions are shown as regions of relative light and dark, respectively.
A Solar Cycle is caused by the changing Magnetic Field, and varies from Solar Maximum (when sunspots, coronal mass ejections and flare phenomena are most frequent), to Solar Minimum (meaning when such activity is relatively infrequent).

Solar Minima occurred in 1996 and 2007, while the last Solar Maximum occurred in 2001 (...)".