THE MAGNETIC EVOLUTION OF THE ACTIVITY COMPLEX AR-7260 - A ROADMAP

The active region NOAA 7260 rotated onto the north solar hemisphere as a mature bipole: a dominant negative-polarity sunspot with trailing p lage and scattered small spots in attendance. The dominant p spot itse lf had strong magnetic fields and covered almost 400 x 10(-6) of a sol ar hemisphere. For a period of seven days beginning 14 August, 1992 th is active region displayed rapid and drastic evolution: no fewer than 50 magnetic bipoles emerged in the area trailing the large sunspot, in creasing the region's magnetic flux by more than 10(22) MX. This new g roup of sunspots formed a complex beta gamma delta configuration with two delta spots and a high degree of magnetic shear. This region was v ery well observed by Yohkoh and various ground-based instruments. It p resented opportunities to study new emerging flux, flares, and also th e decay of a large sunspot. For the benefit of later studies we presen t a description of the global characteristics of this active region, a detailed 'roadmap' of its evolution during disk passage including the development of the two delta regions. We compare proper motion trends and Baring activity to observations of other delta-spots reported in the Literature. We also comment on the observed outflow of magnetic el ements from the decaying p spot.