The sun is near the lowest ebb of the 11-year solar cycle and, until
now, 2007 has been a year of very few sunspots. Enter sunspot 978: It
popped over the sun's eastern limb yesterday and is quickly becoming a
behemoth. The rapidly growing sunspot group is more than five times
wider than Earth, making it an easy target for properly-filtered
backyard telescopes. So far sunspot 978 poses little threat for strong
solar flares, but this could change if the active region's development
continues apace.


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