Solar scientists today are being treated to an eyeful from our nearest star. The largest sunspot in nine years, an active region known as AR 9169, is providing them with a spectacular show as it slowly rotates toward the center of the suns near side.

According to solar physicists, the last time an active region this large graced the solar surface was in 1991. And although AR 9169 is by no means the largest sunspot ever recorded (in fact it is a group of sunspots located extremely close together) it covers a particularly large area about 2 percent of the solar disk and more than 12 times the area of one side of Earth.

Graph of the largest sunspots from the past 100 years

Sunspots are areas of "cool" surface gas. Because they are cooler than the surrounding solar gases, sunspots appear as dark spots on the solar surface. However, the term "cool" is relative; sunspot temperatures range between 6,300 and 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit (3,500 and 5,500 degrees Celsius)!

It takes equatorial sunspots about 25 days to complete one rotation around the solar globe. Sunspots closer to the sun's poles generally take a little longer, often completing their trips in more than a month. During their journey, sunspots change shape every few days, waxing and waning in strength and size.

The number of sunspots on the solar surface changes from year to year. In fact, there is an 11-year cycle during which sunspot activity peaks and then slows to a standstill. This year, the sun is at the peak of its latest 11-year cycle; accordingly, activity in terms of sunspots and related solar flares (ejections of electrically charged gas) is up. Bill Murtagh, a forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado, reported to SPACE.com that indeed area AR 9169 is "the largest sunspot group this cycle."

Science writer Lee Siegel contributed to this report.