Thomas Harriot’s sunspot drawings

Spots on the Sun

The top drawing on this page records Thomas Harriot’s first view of sunspots. He was one of several astronomers to independently discover them around the same time. Harriot risked blindness by using his telescope to view the Sun directly with only mist to shield its fierce glare. We now know that these dark spots moving across the Sun’s face are caused by strong magnetic fields that keep some areas slightly cooler than their surroundings.