The Sleeper Wakes.

After an unusually prolonged Solar Minimum the Sun is now becoming steadily more active, with Sunspot 1093 about to cross the solar meridian in this photograph, slightly below the centre of the Sun's disc.

Larger than the planet Jupiter, this sunspot is a 'footprint' for an intense magnetic disturbance on the surface that has the effect of reducing the temperature of the affected region, causing it to appear darker than the surrounding gas.