The little fellow circled here (in the solar sense of “little” – it’s probably a few thousand miles across) appeared on the 4th January, and probably marks the start of Solar Cycle 24. A slight dent in those bold predictions of a prolonged minimum in solar activity, which would stop global warming in its tracks and put all of us tree-hugging CO2-obsessives in our place. Oh well.
This picture was taken by one of NASA’s two new STEREO satellites, but the new sunspot was also seen by the more venerable SOHO observatory.
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