BIG NEW SUNSPOT FACES EARTH: A sunspot has just materialized in the sun's southern hemisphere--and it's a big one. Newly-named AR2778 is inset in this magnetic map of the sun from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory: [link to www.spaceweather.com (secure)] The +/- polarity of the spot marks it as a member of new Solar Cycle 25. This continues a trend of intensifying new-cycle sunspot activity in 2020. The primary dark core of AR2778 is about the size of Earth. Altogether, the sunspot group sprawls 90,000 km across the face of the sun, dimensions which make it an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. [link to www.spaceweather.com (secure)]