View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Dr Ski in Valencia, Philippines, caught this photo of the sunspot, with prominences also visible, on April 17, 2019. He wrote, “I’m hoping that AR 2738 puts on a nice show when it rotates around to the sun’s western limb in a couple of days!” Thank you, Dr Ski!
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | John Shaw in Lincoln, Nebraska, captured this sunspot on April 15, 2019. He wrote, “Sunspot AR2738 from my front yard.” Thank you, John.
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Padraic Koen in Adelaide, Australia, caught this closeup of sunspot AR2738 on April 14, 2019. Thank you, Padraic.
View larger at EarthSky Community Photos . | Two sunspots three years apart as captured by Alexander Krivenyshev in New York. He caught sunspot AR2738 on April 13 and wrote: “Sunspot 2738 is almost in the same location as sunspot 2529 was in the 2016 photo (exactly 3 years ago) I took with the WestJet airplane.” Thank you, Alexander.
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Justin Berke caught sunspot AR2738 from Florida’s Space Coast on April 12, 2019. He wrote, “Captured with a basic DLSR, solar filter, and kit telephoto lens, and I added annotation and Earth for scale.” Thank you, Justin.
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Michael Holland Sr. of Lakeland, Florida, made this montage of the liftoff of the Falcon Heavy Lift vehicle with two sunspot photos taken on April 10 and 11, 2019. He wrote, “Captured sunspot AR2738 on April 10 after I photographed the SpaceX Falcon Heavy ARABSAT 6A launch from my house.” Thank you, Michael.
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Eileen Ferguson captured this image of sunspot AR2738 on April 10, 2019. She’s in Mallaig, in the Scottish Highlands. Thank you, Eileen. Early astronomers first glimpsed sunspots at sunrise or sunset. Nowadays, we know you should never look at the sun without eye protection . Many good solar filters for telescopes and cameras are available.
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Dr Ski in the Philippines captured this image of the sunspot – which is labeled AR 2738 – on April 12, 2019. He wrote: “AR 2738 is large enough to see with the unaided eye through solar eclipse glasses (if you still have yours from the Great American Eclipse!)”
Sunspot AR2738 as seen by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) on April 10, 2019. View more images from SDO . We saw this image at Spaceweather.com , with the comment: “Sunspot AR2738 is crackling with low-level B-class solar flares.”
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | Victor C. Rogus captured sunspot AR2738 on the morning of April 10, 2019. Thank you, Victor!
View at EarthSky Community Photos .| Sunspot AR2738 – April 9, 2019 – as seen from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, via Ken Gallagher Photography . Thanks, Ken!
View at EarthSky Community Photos . | We first heard of the new sunspot – AR2738 – from Dr Ski in the Philippines on April 9. He posted this photo and wrote: “Another cool sunspot has come around the sun’s eastern limb (it really is cool; around 2,000 degrees C [3,600 F] cooler than the surrounding surface). Full disk images taken at 26X. Close-up captured at 100X. The whitish areas near the sunspot are called ‘plage’ (from the French for ‘beach’) and are easily visible through a solar filter.” Thank you, Dr Ski.
Bottom line: Photos from the EarthSky Community of sunspot AR2738.
Read more: Latest predictions for the coming solar cycle
Deborah Byrd
View Articles
About the Author:
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.