Stirling Astronomical Society Gallery

Comparable in size to the Carrington Event of 1859, two large groups of sunspots have appeared on the face of the Sun this week. Sunspot groups 4296 and 4294 (lower left) together cover an area almost as large as the giant sunspot complex sketched by Richard Carrington in 1859. With the winter Sun low above the horizon this was a tricky capture, taken through brief gaps in the cloud. Imaged using a Herschel wedge and a solar continuum filter, which gives the image this characteristic green colour.