Is this sunspot group bigger than the 1947 one?

[mdstuart]

I observed the big group of spots today. A friend of mine asked if it was bigger than the 1947 one... so attached is my fuzzy pic of the current spots through high cloud... AND an animation I made from a professional pic of the current spots against 1947.. No contest 1947 wins..enjoy SORRY about the way this post is typed as IE on win 8 does not work well on the SGL forum! HELP

[Brinders]

Wasn't the winter of 1947 a particularly bad one? The current crop of sun spots doesn't bode well, then!

[Mark at Beaufort]

Mark that is an interesting comparison. As you say the 1947 sunspot wins. In saying that I did enjoy studying the group AR 11654 this morning - the view with my Astro Tech 4" APO with binoviewers was incredible.

Mark

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Darn, I only had a look in H-alpha recently, so I did not see all the fun in white light. I did see a lot going on, but maybe I should get that Herschel wedge and set up the 80mm frac and baby Lunt in tandem (the mount can handle that easily).

[Qualia]

Ay, a really spectacular display has been put on since about the 9th. AR 1654 has been a joy to observe and sketch. I did a little measurement this morning and from one extreme tip of the penumbra across to the otherside appeared to measure some 200,000 to 240,000km That's about 15 to 18 Earths wide. Even if with a margin of error of about 20%, you still get an idea.