Do sunspots have tails?

[Manok101]

I have been observing for the past weeks or so and finally was able to use a higher magnification eyepiece, and noticed that the big sunspot right now has a tail, or it looks like a tail, and I was wondering if they do have tails? It kind of looks like a black cherry closer up. Edit: I use a white light filter.

[acey]

Yes, sunspots can have all sorts of shapes. Here's a nice video of one from last year, that gives some further info:

http://www.space.com/12724-strange-spun-sunspot-shifts-shape.html

[rwilkey]

This sunspot has ID 1471, very interesting I find, though not seen the new group yet.

[Ad Astra]

Sunspots are 'magnetic storms' on the solar surface. Magnetic field lines penetrate the solar surface, slowing plasma flow in that region and allowing more heat to escape. These regions would be spectacularly bright if you removed them from the solar surface, but because they average about 1500 C cooler than the surrounding region, they appear dark.

Typically they have a darker central region called the umbra, and a fainter, frequently 'speckled' region surrounding the center called the penumbra. More recent video studies show these to be dynamic regions that change, merge, split apart as they grow and eventually fade and die.

Really fascinating to watch in real time!

Dan