Properties of sunspots and pores

In this paper, we show observations of sunspots and pores to illustrate various aspects of the high resolution observing program at the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). We address the question as to how a sunspot develops a penumbra. This process seems to occur on time scales of a few tens of minutes. Even pores with a size of a few are seconds show fine-structures. Bright points with a diameter of a few tenth of an are second are located inside pores and resemble umbral dots. Pores often exhibit cloud-like, fuzzy borders which may be the prenatal stages of a penumbra. Therefore, diffraction limited observations of high temporal resolution are necessary to study the temporal evolution of sunspots and pores, the onset of the Evershed flow, and the accompanying changes in the magnetic field configuration. We present speckle masking observations taken in white-light and G-band, infrared observations obtained with frame selection at 1.56 mu m, and magnetograms obtained with the new digital magnetograph system. Finally, we will report on our progress in reducing the dome seeing at BBSO.