Giant Sunspot Visible Without Magnification Faces Earth

Astronomers all across the world are being blinded by a massive sunspot that is visible without magnification and is facing Earth.

Without Magnification BUT With Eye Protection

A sunspot grew big enough that people on Earth can observe it without a telescope, but only with the right eye protection.

Sunspot AR3310, a large dark spot on the sun that is facing Earth, may now be seen without a telescope. South Korean astronomer Bum-Suk Yeom published a sunspot depiction that compared its size to that of the little planet Earth.

A sunspot can be seen to the left of the solar disk's center, according to Yeom, who claimed in his Instagram post that he employed solar glasses or a solar filter to observe the massive sunspot that is crossing the sun and is visible to the "naked eye."

Giant Sunspot 4x as Big as the Earth

Sunspots are black spots on the surface of the sun that are produced by magnetic field twists and turns that are extremely intense. By preventing some heat from the core of the sun from entering its atmosphere, if these fields are powerful enough, the surface will become cooler and seem darker.

Sunspots can occasionally be seen with the naked eye, but eye protection against the intense glare of the sun is recommended.

A greater sunspot region and good weather circumstances increase their visibility, according to Hisashi Hayakawa, a solar physicist at Nagoya University in Japan. The minimal visibility threshold is believed to be around 425 millionths of the visible solar disk or 0.4% of the solar disk.

Sunspot AR3310 is approximately four times the size of the planet Earth, according to Bum-Suk's estimation in his post.

Also Read: X-Class Solar Flare from Giant Sunspot Causes Widespread Radio Blackout From North to South America 

Solar Flares and Solar Cycles

Due to their strong magnetic fields, sunspots are typically the regions of the sun from which coronal mass ejections or solar flares emerge. Solar flares are the muzzle flash of a solar explosion, which sends X-rays into space. A CME, which comprises of rapidly moving magnetic fields and solar plasma plumes, is what the bullet is.

Both of these solar flares have the potential to cause geomagnetic storms, which can occasionally result in radio blackouts and auroras in the middle latitudes.

The number of sunspots varies as the sun moves through its 11-year solar cycle, according to NASA. Solar activity peaks at the solar maximum, and the sun has a lot more sunspots than it does six to eight years later during the solar minimum. Since they were originally noted in 1755, these cycles of activity have occurred 25 times. The next solar maximum is expected to occur in 2025, following the most recent solar minimum in 2019.

However, it appears that the current solar cycle is functioning better than anticipated.

With sunspot levels already approaching those recorded during the peak of the previous cycle, Solar Cycle 25 has now surpassed the official projection for more than 24 months running, according to Science Alert.

Use Eye Protection

It is advised not to look directly at the sun for those who want to see this abnormally enormous sunspot. In his piece, Bum-Suk stated that sun eyewear or solar filters are crucial for eye protection.

Hayakawa advised using eclipse glasses and avoiding looking directly at the sun, even through smoked glass, because doing so could cause eye burns. Due to their sun studies, some historical astronomers experienced a severe reduction in their vision, Newsweek reports.

Related Article: Coronal Mass Ejection Causes Radio Blackout in Arctic Circle