Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Evershed effect
References
Britannica AI Icon

Evershed effect

astronomy
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

The Evershed effect, discovered by English astronomer John Evershed in 1909, describes the outward horizontal motion of gases from the centers of sunspots. Sunspots are cooler, darker regions on the Sun's surface associated with strong magnetic fields.123

Within a sunspot, the dark central area is called the umbra, surrounded by a lighter ring known as the penumbra. The Evershed effect is observed in the penumbra, where gases flow outward at about one kilometer per second. In the chromosphere above a sunspot, a reverse flow occurs, with material spiraling inward. This phenomenon is a key aspect of understanding the complex dynamics within sunspots and their associated magnetic activity.32

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
3 Britannica Sources
  1. John Evershed
  2. Sun - Sunspots
  3. sunspot

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.