On the morning of March 6, 2012 we captured the very large sunspot 1429 (top) along with the much smaller 1430 (below). Sunspot AR1429 showed itself on March 2 and produced an M3-class solar flare. M-class flares are medium-sized and can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions. Then on March 5, this sunspot produced an X1-class solar flare. X-class flares are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. This region is continuing to grow as it moves across the Sun and on March 7 it produced an X5-class solar flare that was expected to reach our planet on March 8 and could spark a strong-to-severe geomagnetic storm. Telescope: Lunt Solar Systems LS60THa/B1200CPT Accessories: LS50FHa Double-stack etalon; TeleVue 2.5x Powermate Mount: Takahashi EM-200 Temma2 Camera: Imaging Source DMK31 Exposure: 32.20ms Gain: 783 Length: 1:00 @ 30fps (each) Acquisition: Fire Capture Processing: Registax 6 Post-processing: Adobe Photoshop CS5; ImagesPlus 4.5 Capture time: March 6, 2012, 10:20am Capture conditions: ~61°F; transparency: Above avg 4/5; seeing: Above avg 4/5 Location: Hendersonville, TN, USA