A Guide to Sunspot Magnetic Field Configuration

Sunspots are regions of the sun where magnetic fields are especially potent, creating dark spots in certain observing filters (such as H-alpha). These spots are also known as active regions, bright and dynamic areas made of loops of magnetic field and solar material, in other observing filters. This guide is specifically focused on sunspots observed using the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), but does use the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) .
There are eight magnetic field configurations in Hale Classification of sunspots/magnetic field configurations (1). In the first column are example images of sunspots mainly from 2023-2025, exceptions noted; on the left hand side are HMI Continuum (yellow) for sunspot images and on the right hand side are the HMI Magnetogram (grey) showing the magnetic field configuration images of the sunspots. The second column contains information on a description/identification and any additional information of each sunspot class.

Solar Magnetic Field Configuration