• What are sunspots?
• What can auroras tell us about the Sun-Earth Connection?

Sunspotters play a critical role in the Student Observation Network. As a Sunspotter you may be among the first observers in SON to study the conditions that cause the Space Weather that affects the Earth.

As a Sunspotter you will find out what a sunspot is, when and where they appear, and how they change over time. You will also find out some of the ideas scientists have about sunspots and how they may affect Space Weather.

What You Need
Sunspotters are encouraged to observe the Sun and its spots using three different kinds of instruments. The buttons to the left will connect you to information on how to use these instruments in your research. Views From Students describes how to use simple solar telescopes in field observations at your school. Views From Observatories describes how you can obtain images of the Sun from large professional telescopes at observatories in Colorado,California,Maryland, and Mexico. Views From Satellites will allow you to obtain images of the Sun from the NASA SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite.

What You Do
Make Observations Classroom activities are available for teachers in the Live from the Aurora Educators Guide (available in hard copy when you register for SON) and on-line by clicking the button to the left. The key element to all of these activities is to observe the sunspots as close to the same time of day for as many days as you can.

Compare Observations
Compare Views From Students with images from professional ground telescopes (Views From Observatories) and from the NASA SOHO satellite (Views From Satellites).