Sunspot bright rings and the thermal diffusivity of solar convection

Raster-scan observations of 10 sunspots, made in 1980 and 1981 with the 512-channel diode array and vacuum telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, are reported. Data from several 10-min scans of 0.25-A passbands of clean continuum were summed to give an rms noise level of 0.25 percent, corrected by applying a limb-darkening curve, and analyzed to determine the average intensity for each of eight segments of a series of concentric rings around each sunspot. Faculae and pores were identified and discarded in constructing radial intensity profiles. Marginally significant bright symmetric rings (peak amplitude 0.1-0.3 percent) not attributable to residual facular signal or instrumental effects were observed around 6 of 10 sunspots. No evidence of more intense bright rings was found. These findings are discussed in terms of thermal-diffusion models proposed to explain the fate of the radiative flux blocked by sunspots.