Sunspots

We had a blanket of high cloud across us today, a featureless covering which was thin enough to allow the sun to be clearly visible through it so, out of curiosity and in the interests of science, I took a couple of photographs with my now-ageing digital camera - and was amazed to observe that, even though I had used no tripod, at least four sunspots were visible.

The ones to the right of the image match almost perfectly those on....
 

....one of today's NASA pictures.

The heightened sunspot activity is responsible for the recent auroras which the north of Scotland is enjoying - see AuroraWatch's Flickr photos here. Sadly, their peak activity hasn't coincided with the usual requirements for a good aurora sighting - clear skies, no moon, and knowing an aurora's happening.