"The Sun is a G2V class main sequence star. It is a huge ball of super-hot electrically-charged gas, mainly hydrogen (73%) and Helium (25%). The remainder is comprised of heavier elements which astronomers refer to as metals. The electrically charged or ionised particles of gas constantly move and in doing so create a powerful magnetic field.
This magnetic field goes through changes every 11 years or so, where the Sun's North and South poles swap places - this is called the solar cycle.
As the magnetic fields change with time, so does the amount of activity on the Sun's surface. Over the last few years the Sun has been winding down at the end of a solar cycle.
The middle of the solar cycle is when the Sun is most active, and when it has the most sunspots. For some time the Sun has had few or no spots on display. At the Jodrell Plank Observatory we only have appropriate filters to image the Sun in 'White Light' (5500 Angstroms). This frequency roughly corresponds to the Sun's surface where spots occur. As there have been few spots to image, we have done little recent solar imaging. Towards the end of 2020 there were indications that solar activity is on the increase and that the new solar cycle has commenced. We look forward to 2021 and the real possibility of imaging some nice sunspot groups as they rotate and cross the Sun's disc.
The above solar images were taken through cloud using an unfiltered handheld Canon IXUS compact camera. Not much activity to be seen you might say but you would be wrong!
The following video and still images were taken by the SDO Solar Dynamics Observatory NASA on the same day the above images were captured from the Jodrell Plank Observatory. As you can see there is plenty going on if you have the right kit and filter the light accordingly!" - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory
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