Since the Sun appears in the day time most "backyard" astronomers forget about its presence. After realising what a glorious day it was today I decided to go out and see if I could see some sunspots.
Before I went out I went to the excellent spaceweather.com to see if there was any that had been observed by spacecraft. The case was yes but only small ones near the limb (the edge) of the solar disc. I thought what the hell and decided to go out
The first and most crucial thing about observing the sun is that you NEVER LOOK AT THE SUN! if you want to get a good view you can use binoculars or a telescope but only use the projection method NEVER LOOK THROUGH THESE AT THE SUN. If you are around professionals who have the appropriate setup - with solar filters etc then it might be appropriate but only in those situations.
The projection method is possibly the easiest to do. You get a pair of binoculars and you aim them at the sun, remembering not to look through them (it is probably best to cover over the one side you are not using). Aim the image on to a white piece of paper and then look at this image. You can get some stunning views of the sun this way. This way actually provided some excellent images of the recent Venus Transit (there are lots of photos of this on the astrosoc website).
What did I see today? Well not much. I think there were a few small sunspots on the edge of the solar disc but nothing prominent. Fun though.
More:
+ Solar Safety - http://www.eclipse.org.uk/safety.htm
+ Projection Method - http://www.vt-2004.org/mt-2003/mt-2003-projection-normal.jpg
+ Spaceweather - http://www.spaceweather.com/
+ University of Birmingham Astronomical Society - http://www.astrosoc.org.uk
+ Venus Transit Photos -
http://students.bugs.bham.ac.uk/astrosoc/pictures/venustransit2004.htm
