What's that dark spot on the Sun?
It was very hazy today, so while I was driving to work, as the sun rose, it looked very red and wasn't very bright.
I noticed a dark spot on the disk of the sun! What was it? A planet or a comet in the way? A sunspot?
First: DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. Even at sunrise or sunset, or if the Sun is partly masked by clouds, it can still be bright enough to damage your vision if you look long enough--and you never know when the clouds will shift. Please don't take chances!
You can view the Sun safely by projecting its image using binoculars, or a pinhole camera. Here is some more about safe sun-viewing techniques
What you saw was a sunspot. There is a particularly large one on the Sun's face now. You can find out more about sunspots, and see which sunspots are visible at SpaceWeather.com
Still Curious?
Get More 'Curious?' with Our New PODCAST:
- Podcast? Subscribe? Tell me about the Ask an Astronomer Podcast
- Subscribe to our Podcast | Listen to our current Episode
- Cool! But I can't now. Send me a quick reminder now for later.
Related questions:
- What is the solar cycle?
- How many sunspots can the Sun have at once?
- How hot is each one of the layers of the sun?
- How are sunspots formed?
More questions about The Sun: Previous | Next
How to ask a question:
If you have a follow-up question concerning the above subject, submit it here. If you have a question about another area of astronomy, find the topic you're interested in from the archive on our site menu, or go here for help.
Main Page | About Us | For Teachers | Astronomy Links | Ask a Question | View a Random Question | Our Podcast
URL: http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=153
This page has been accessed 28024 times since August 21, 2002.
Last modified: September 27, 2002 4:13:50 PM
Ask an Astronomer is hosted by the Astronomy Department at Cornell University and is produced with PHP and MySQL.
Warning: Your browser is misbehaving! This page might look ugly. (Details)