In Deep / 第一期

BIG SUNSPOT: Sunspot 1054 is so big, you can see it without a telescope. All you really need is a bank of thick clouds. Yesterday in Lusby, Maryland, a dark cloud drifted across the sun and dimmed it so much "I could see the sunspot," reports Neil Winston," so I grabbed my camera and snapped this picture."

Readers, beware. While it is possible to see the sunspot with the naked eye, staring at the sun is dangerous. A sudden gap in the cumulous, a lance of intense sunlight, and--presto!--you're blinking in pain. Photographing low or cloudy suns with a digital camera can be safe as long as you do not look directly through the viewfinder. Your best bet, however, is a safely-filtered solar telescope.

Sunspot 1054 has a "beta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for C- and M-class solar flares. Indeed, amateur astronomers around the world have been watching it seethe and crackle. This movie from Rogerio Marco of Campinas, Brazil, shows the eruption on March 14th that hurled a coronal mass ejection toward Earth. Browse the links below for additional examples.