sunbursts

Sunbursts is a term used in several contexts to describe patterns of rays or light emanating from a central point. While the exact meaning depends on the domain, the core idea is radiance or a radial arrangement of components around a focal center.

In astronomy and solar physics, sunburst is an informal descriptive term for radial brightness patterns seen in solar imagery. These can appear as rays extending from bright active regions or as spokes of light around the solar disk during eclipses, flares, or coronal mass ejections. It is not a formal technical term, but a convenient way to describe visually similar features in captions and diagrams.

In data visualization, a sunburst chart is a radial diagram used to display hierarchical data. It consists of concentric rings with the central circle representing the root and each outer ring representing a deeper level. The size of each sector typically corresponds to a quantitative attribute, and color can encode category. Sunburst charts help show part-to-whole relationships and enable drill-down exploration, but can become cluttered with many categories or long labels.

In design and the decorative arts, the sunburst motif features rays or spokes emanating from a central point. It has appeared in heraldry, clocks, architecture, furniture, and corporate logos, symbolizing light, energy, or the sun.

In music, sunburst describes a common guitar finish: a gradient that fades from a darker outer edge to a lighter center. Variants include tobacco sunburst, antique sunburst, and other color schemes, and the finish is closely associated with mid-20th-century instrument styling.