solar observation Solar observation is the scientific endeavor of studying the Sun and its behavior and relation to the Earth and the remainder of the Solar System. Deliberate solar observation began thousands of years ago. That initial era of direct observation g ...

, a magnetogram is a pictorial representation of the spatial variations in strength of the

solar magnetic field The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. Solar magnetograms are produced by solar magnetographs. Some magnetographs only measure the absolute value of the magnetic field strength while others are capable of measuring the 3-dimensional magnetic field. The latter are referred to as ''

vector magnetograph A vector magnetograph is a type of imaging telescope that can estimate the 3-D vector of the magnetic field on a distant body with a resolved line spectrum. Magnetographs are useful for studying the Sun because the surface magnetic field is im ...

s''. The measurements are usually done based on the

Zeeman effect The Zeeman effect (; ) is the effect of splitting of a spectral line into several components in the presence of a static magnetic field. It is named after the Dutch physicist Pieter Zeeman, who discovered it in 1896 and received a Nobel prize ...

. The first magnetograph was constructed by

George Ellery Hale George Ellery Hale (June 29, 1868 – February 21, 1938) was an American solar astronomer, best known for his discovery of magnetic fields in sunspots, and as the leader or key figure in the planning or construction of several world-lea ...

in 1908.

References

Magnetic devices {{Sun-stub