Trend-Busting Active Region Emerges in South
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A new active region, 12694, recently emerged in the southern solar hemisphere bucking the solar cycle trend of active region emergence. Data collected since the late 1800s show that near the beginning of the solar cycle, sunspots emerge at mid-latitudes and as the cycle progresses the active regions emerge closer and closer to the equator. The pattern of sunspot emergence resembles that of a butterfly.
Though most regions follow this pattern of emergence, every once in awhile a region emerges in an unexpected location. Since active
regions also tend to emerge in clusters, it will be interesting to see if other active regions emerge at this latitude in the next few months.
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(Prepared by Patricia Jibben)
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