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Sunspots
caused by magnetic field
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Fact: sunspots are sites
of enhanced magnetic fields
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Fact: sun's magnetic field
reverses poles every 22 years
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Fact: sunspots appear near
poles and move to equator
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Theory: Babcock's Magnetic
Dynamo
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Sun's magnetic field threads
through photosphere
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Differential rotation winds
field up
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Convection kinks field, sometimes
forcing it out of photosphere
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Sunspots happen where magnetic
field leaves photosphere
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Kinks undone by differential
rotation, moving pairs of sunspots apart
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Sunspots that congregate
at pole, canceling out and then reversing the Sun's total magnetic field
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Total cycle takes 22 years,
covering 2 cycles of sunspot activity
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