<p>A sunspot is made of the same matter as the rest of the sun. The sun is a mixture of hydrogen and helium (and a trace of other elements) A sunspot is exactly the same mix.  The only difference is that a sunspot is cooler: 3500-4500 degrees, compared to about 6000 for the rest of the sun. The cooling is a result of magnetic fields, not a different type of matter. Small stars with a surface temperature of 3500-4000 degrees are red-orange and much dimmer than the sun.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-11T15:02:20.177Z
Your last sentence could be more explicit: IIUC, such a cool star would look everywhere like our sun spots, which would define the way it illuminates its surrounding: With light of a color temperature of 3500-400K, and correspondingly lower intensity, and since it's probably smaller, lower overall output.
Peter - Reinstate Monica
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-11T18:30:59.893Z
My assumption, that could be wrong, is that it's unlikely/impossible for sunspot-causing magnetic fields to cover the entire surface of a star. Such a star would need to have a very strong magnetic monopole, which doesn't seem plausible from what I can tell.
The Guy with The Hat
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-11T18:40:37.517Z
@TheGuywithTheHat Yeah, but you can have a star that's just generally cooler. It wouldn't be a sunspot *per se* but that's the point, there's nothing special about a sunspot, it's just a cool spot on the surface.
Darth Pseudonym
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-11T20:10:46.930Z
(1) If one counts the spot together with its surroundings, it is actually brighter than a spotless surface. The whole Sun is somewhat brighter when it has spots. (2) Stars with much more and bigger spots do exist.
fraxinus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-11T05:29:19.737Z
2024-07-11T05:29:19.737Z
James K
<p>A sunspot is made out of the same stuff as the rest of the sun, it's just a relatively cool spot. Because it's cooler, it puts out less and redder light, but it's only dark <em>in comparison</em> to the rest of the sun's disc. Sunspots actually still put out a huge amount of light.</p>
<p>A star can't be made entirely out of sunspots as such, because you can't have those magnetic effects everywhere at once, but you can have a star that's just sunspot-temperature all over. Those definitely do exist. They have a more red spectrum than our sun does, so something like Betelgeuse would be a good example. Of course, such a star would most likely have sunspots of its own that are even cooler and dimmer.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-11T18:39:06.920Z
2024-07-11T18:39:06.920Z
Darth Pseudonym
<p>Can there be a star that is made of the same matter of our sun spots? What would the illumination be like?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-07-13T19:40:43.610Z
Can a mountain range be made of valleys?
Philipp
<star><the-sun><sunspots>
Can a star be made of sun spots?
Justintimeforfun
# Can a star be made of sun spots?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-07-11)

Can there be a star that is made of the same matter of our sun spots? What would the illumination be like?

**Tags:** star, the-sun, sunspots

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Can a mountain range be made of valleys?  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2024-07-11. Score: 12 | Accepted answer

A sunspot is made out of the same stuff as the rest of the sun, it's just a relatively cool spot. Because it's cooler, it puts out less and redder light, but it's only dark *in comparison* to the rest of the sun's disc. Sunspots actually still put out a huge amount of light.

A star can't be made entirely out of sunspots as such, because you can't have those magnetic effects everywhere at once, but you can have a star that's just sunspot-temperature all over. Those definitely do exist. They have a more red spectrum than our sun does, so something like Betelgeuse would be a good example. Of course, such a star would most likely have sunspots of its own that are even cooler and dimmer.


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### Answer by username_2 on 2024-07-11. Score: 31

A sunspot is made of the same matter as the rest of the sun. The sun is a mixture of hydrogen and helium (and a trace of other elements) A sunspot is exactly the same mix. The only difference is that a sunspot is cooler: 3500-4500 degrees, compared to about 6000 for the rest of the sun. The cooling is a result of magnetic fields, not a different type of matter. Small stars with a surface temperature of 3500-4000 degrees are red-orange and much dimmer than the sun.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: Your last sentence could be more explicit: IIUC, such a cool star would look everywhere like our sun spots, which would define the way it illuminates its surrounding: With light of a color temperature of 3500-400K, and correspondingly lower intensity, and since it's probably smaller, lower overall output.  
> **username_4**: My assumption, that could be wrong, is that it's unlikely/impossible for sunspot-causing magnetic fields to cover the entire surface of a star. Such a star would need to have a very strong magnetic monopole, which doesn't seem plausible from what I can tell.  
> **username_5**: @TheGuywithTheHat Yeah, but you can have a star that's just generally cooler. It wouldn't be a sunspot *per se* but that's the point, there's nothing special about a sunspot, it's just a cool spot on the surface.  
> **username_6**: (1) If one counts the spot together with its surroundings, it is actually brighter than a spotless surface. The whole Sun is somewhat brighter when it has spots. (2) Stars with much more and bigger spots do exist.  

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