Sunspot 1087 is developing into a behemoth many times wider than Earth. It now has dozens of dark cores with a long magnetic filament snaking among them:
Image
© Britta Suhre

"What amazing active region!" says Britta Suhre, who took the picture from her backyard observatory in Rosenheim, Germany: "It is real fun to photograph."

The filament is crackling with B- and C-class solar flares, as shown in these movies from the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The biggest and most spectacular eruption so far was a C3-flare on July 9th (movie).

Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor the action.

More images: from Mark Seibold of Sandy, Oregon; from Michael Borman on Patoka Lake near Wickliffe, Indiana; from Michael Buxton of Ocean Beach, California; from Steve Riegel of Santa Maria, CA; from Gianluca Valentini of Rimini, Italy; from W. Verhesen of Sittard, The Netherlands; from Andreas Murner of Rosenheim, Bavaria, Germany; from Gianluca Valentini of Rimini, Italy; from Jan Timmermans of Valkenswaard, The Netherlands;