the Sun’s consistent “moderation,” there would be no astronomers to study them. 
    Since the Sun is a nearly spherical ball of extremely hot gas, it does not have a true surface. Shown here is the photosphere (“sphere of light”), the Sun’s outer portion, which releases visible light into space. The brightest portion, which emits about half of all the Sun’s electromagnetic radiation, is about 5,800 degrees Kelvin. The black-gray patches, called sunspots, have been studied extensively. Sunspots appear dark because, at 4,100 degrees Kelvin, they are cooler than the surrounding photosphere. They are often many times the size of the Earth and contain intense magnetic fields (like bar magnets, they often have