FACULA

in astronomy, bright granular structure on the Sun's surface that is slightly hotter or cooler than the surrounding photosphere. A sunspot always has an associated facula, though faculae may exist apart from such spots. Faculae are visible in ordinary white light near the Sun's limb (apparent edge), where the photospheric background is dimmer than near the centre of the disk. The extensions of faculae up into the chromosphere become visible over the entire disk in spectroheliograms taken at the wavelengths of hydrogen or ionized calcium vapour. When seen thus away from the limb, they are called chromospheric faculae or plages.