After dozing for what seems like an eternity, the Sun is finally waking up, and its previously blank golden face is now spattered with sunspots. You can see them yourself - but only if you're very careful.
To see the sunspots you will need a pair of binoculars - but not to look directly at the Sun with. Look at the Sun through them, or anything which magnifies, and you will blind yourself, so never, EVER do it. Instead you will use your binoculars to project an image of the Sun onto a white surface, which will show sunspots very clearly, and in total safety.
Start by holding the binoculars a safe distance away from yourself, with a white card or wall behind them. Point the binoculars roughly towards the Sun and jiggle them around until two bright circles appear behind them. Move the binoculars away from your makeshift screen, and tweak the focus until the sunspots stand out clearly. Each dark spot is a huge magnetic storm, the largest bigger than the Earth itself!
Stuart Atkinson, Eddington Astronomical Society of Kendal
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