Two Equinox Sunspots

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Two sunspots appeared on old Sol yesterday just as Earth's orbit ushered in the Autumnal Equinox. Two sunspots showing up at once hasn't happened in more than a year, and over 80% of the days in 2009 have been "sunspotless" during this deepest solar minimum in a century. Spaceweather.com had a great picture, below, of the first sunspot that appeared, #1026, taken by astrophotographer Peter Lawrence. Lawrence said there was a lot going on around the new sunspot. "The spot's dark core is surrounded by active fibrils and a swirling magnetic filament that gives the region a nice 3D appearance."

[caption id="attachment_41067" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Sunspot 1026. Credit: Peter Lawrence."]

[/caption] Check out

Spaceweather.com

for more (and new images) of the new sunspots.