A View of the Current Sunspot Group Crossing the Sun

Though it's not advisable to look at the Sun with the naked eye, astronomers say that the sunspot group currently moving across the star's surface can be seen without telescopes. Dubbed AR 1302, the object started developing last week.

According to experts at NASA, this is the largest and most active sunspot group to appear in many years. Its existence may have something to do with the fact that we are heading towards the maximum of Solar Cycle 24. Peak solar activity levels are expected to be reached in 2013.

Already, coronal mass ejections released by AR 1302 have battered Earth's magnetosphere with massive amounts of high-energy particles, triggering the release of bright, beautiful auroras above both of our planet's poles.

The image above shows solar plasma hanging in disturbed magnetic fields, after AR 1302 generated a massive X-class solar flare last week, on Thursday. X-class events are the strongest the Sun is capable of producing.