View synonyms for facula

facula

[ fak-yuh-luh ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

, Astronomy.

, plural fac·u·lae [fak, -y, uh, -lee].

facula

/ ˈfækjʊlə /

any of the bright areas on the sun's surface, usually appearing just before a sunspot and subject to the same 11-year cycle

facula

/ făk′yə-lə /

, Plural faculae făk′yə-lē′

A bright, cloudlike structure on the Sun's surface, ascending several hundred kilometers above the photosphere and often associated with sunspots. Faculae are formed when a strong magnetic field heats a region of the photosphere to higher temperatures than the surrounding area. They occur all over the Sun but are usually only visible near the limb (the outer edge of the Sun's apparent disk), where the photosphere appears dimmer than in the center.

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Origin of facula¹

1700–10; < Latin: little torch, equivalent to fac- (stem of fax ) torch + -ula -ule

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Origin of facula¹

C18: from Latin: little torch, from fax torch

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Facula, fak′ū-la, n. a spot brighter than the rest of the surface, sometimes seen on the sun's disc:—pl.

He considers it indeed "highly probable that the preparatory sign of a new spot is always a small, bright patch of facula."

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