How to watch giant sunspot ‘four times the size of Earth’ crossing the Sun

There’s reportedly a 20 per cent chance the sunspot may let off a powerful solar flare

A giant sunspot about four times the size of Earth can be seen crossing the Sun’s surface, and astronomers say it is big enough to be spotted without the aid of a telescope, provided people have the right safety equipment.

The sunspot, named AR3310, is big enough to see without magnification using eclipse glasses whose lenses are designed to block out the sun’s harmful UV and infrared rays.

“A giant sunspot is crossing the sun’s disk, and I could see it clearly with solar glasses. Caution! You must use eclipse glasses or solar filters to protect your eyes,” South Korean astronomer Bum-Suk Yeom told spaceweather.com.

Wildfires in Canada are also reportedly creating a natural smoke filter for skywatchers to observe the sunspot in parts of North America, including New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Thick smoke from the wildfire is expected to dim the setting sun and reveal the sunspot which may be lost in the glare normally.

Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the surface of the Sun that appear as dark spots.

They are regions where the Sun’s magnetic fields are particularly active.

Strong magnetic fields on these areas on the Sun prevent some heat from its core from reaching the atmosphere.

This causes the Sun’s surface in those regions to be cooler and appear darker.

Their active magnetic fields lead to sunspots being points from which solar flares are emitted.

Solar flares, also known as coronal mass ejections, are intense blasts of energy from the volatile atmosphere of the Sun.

These eruptions from the Sun, containing charged particles, can lead to radio communication blackouts on Earth, as well as problems to electric power grids, navigation systems, and potential risks for astronauts and spacecraft.

While the sunspot AR3310 has been relatively calm for the past 48 hours, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said there’s a 20 per cent chance it may let off a powerful X-class flare while it is facing the Earth.

“The sunspot has an unstable ‘beta-gamma-delta’ magnetic field that harbors energy for strong X-class solar flares,” spaceweather.com noted.