Out playing with my astro gear today in preparation for the Annular Solar Eclipse, visible in the western part of the country, in October. (Yeah, I know, that’s 4 months from now, but ya can’t be too ready when it comes to eclipses.) Between the clouds and trees, I imaged the sun from our back deck here in northeast Ohio. That huge sunspot in the lower left part of the picture is AR3363, as it’s affectionally known to scientists. It’s huge, 4 times larger than planet Earth. I missed one last week that was 11 times the size of Earth! If you saved your eclipse glasses from the August 2017 solar eclipse, you might try viewing this sunspot without a telescope. Do not, under any conditions, attempt to view the sun without using proper solar filters. It can, and will, blind you. The magnetic storms these puppies are kicking out are getting serious. Sunspots are caused by especially strong and intertwined magnetic fields. (And for the nerds among us, I made this image with my Explore Scientific ED80CF scope, Baader solar filter, and Nikon D7500. Single exposure.)
Happy sun day.
Witt’s End 