Faculae are
hot,
bright structures caused by the strong
magnetic fields within the
Suns photosphere. As with
sunspots they tend to occur in clusters (although faculae clusters are smaller than sunspot clusters) known as
plages. While sunspots tend to make the Sun look
darker, the faculae make it look brighter. At the height of a sunspot cycle the number of faculae increase more than the number of sunspots leading to the Sun giving off slightly more light than usual.
Faculae are easily spotted near the visible edge of the sun, and can be seen extending into the chromosphere across the whole disc when viewed via a spectroheliogram
Information taken from:
http://www.uni-sw.gwdg.de/research/exp_solar/efackeln.html
http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/faculae.html
www.ucar.edu/communications/lasers/sun/faculae.html