THE SUN IS STIRRING: The face of the sun is blank--no sunspots--but this could soon change. NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft is monitoring a new active region hidden behind the sun's eastern limb. Earlier today, it produced an impressive coronal mass ejection (CME, movie) and a strong Type II radio burst. This image from STEREO's extreme UV telescope shows the region just after the explosion:

At the root of all this activity is probably a large sunspot. Its high latitude identifies it as a member of new Solar Cycle 24. The putative sunspot is not yet visible from Earth, but the sun is turning the region toward us for a better view. Readers with solar telescopes should keep an eye on sun's northeastern limb for a possible emergence on May 7th or 8th.