Photos: Sunspots on Earth's Closest Star

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Sunspot 1429 Close Up

NASA/SDO/HMI

This view of the sun taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the active sunspot region 1429 as it appeared at 11:30 p.m. ET on March 5, 2012 to the spacecraft's Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager. The region unleashed a major X-class flare just one minute before this view was taken.

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