Have you already invested in solar eclipse glasses in anticipation of April 8th? If yes, you can put them to good use! There’s a large sunspot on our Sun, titled “AR3590” that’s so large, you can see it with nothing more than your own two eyes, provided you’re viewing the Sun through proper eclipse glasses.

Our Sun regularly features “freckles”, called sunspots that appear on the surface of the Sun. These sunspots are areas of strong magnetic fields that appear as dark spots due to their relatively cooler temperatures in comparison to the region around them. They can grow to many times to the size of Earth, occasionally growing large enough to be seen by people with proper optical equipment. These sunspots can be the source of solar flares that result in displays of auroras once the energy from these “sun burps” reaches our planet.

AR3590 is quite active, producing several strong solar flares over the last few days. While none of these have been Earth-directed, it’s a sign this particular sunspot is quite unstable and capable of producing Earth-directed flares that could be geoeffective in the coming days as it turns to face our planet.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER, YOU CANNOT STARE AT THE SUN WITHOUT PROPER PROTECTION! While AR3590 is indeed large enough to be seen without magnification, only those of you with said protection will be able to see it. Solar eclipse glasses qualify. If the Sun emerges through clouds through the weekend, pop those glasses on and look up. It’ll appear as a small black spot on the Sun’s surface. Happy hunting!