Do faculae blanket sunspots?
If the hillock model for faculae (plages), in which the faculae are structures elevated above the photosphere, is correct, faculae may blanket sunspots. In this paper, the appearance of sunspots in relation to faculae areas and disk position is analyzed, leading to the conclusion that faculae blanket sunspots preferentially near the sun's limb. A computer model fitting the observation is used to infer an average height of 200 km for faculae. The possibility that plages obstruct the sunspot view is ruled out.
Schatten, Kenneth H.↗