REXBURG Former astronomy teacher Allan Morton is still keeping an eye on the skies and he recently spotted a large sunspot group on the sun.

The sunspot group first cropped up early in January and reached its maximum around Jan. 8, Morton said.

He said the main sunspot was so large, estimated at about 40,000 miles across, that it could be seen without a telescope if the viewer used the proper filter.

I could see it through a filter with the naked eye, he said.

It was part of a larger group of about 45 sunspots around 120,000 miles across.

Morton has long had an interest in astronomy, even building his own observatory as a young man.

Now retired for several years, and back in Rexburg where he grew up, Morton taught beginning classes in astronomy and geology at Central Arizona College from 1974 to 2003 and was in charge of the Central Arizona College observatory during that time.

Morton said the recent sunspot group had the potential to send disruptive radiation our way, but when it pulsed last week it did not amount to anything extraordinary.

It was kind of eerie because it can be thought of as a large solar cannon pointed toward the earth capable of doing us harm, he said.

Steady solar radiation occurs constantly, but sunspot activity can trigger large geomagnetic storms affecting electrical grids, satellite and radio communication and navigation aids.

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Seeing spots: Tracking a solar storm