A monstrous sunspot region 15-Earths-wide is currently so large it can be seen without binoculars or telescopes. But you'll still need proper eye protection. Here's how you can spot it without putting your vision at risk.
Sunspots are relatively cool regions in the sun's atmosphere that form around areas of intense magnetic activity. Because they are cooler than their surroundings they appear dark from Earth and are often associated with short-lived explosions known as solar flares as well as powerful coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — vast expulsions of plasma driven by violent shifts in the sun's magnetic field.
