SUNSPOT ALERT: The sun is near the lowest ebb of the 11-year solar cycle and, until now, 2007 has been a year of very few sunspots. Enter sunspot 978: It popped over the sun's eastern limb yesterday and is quickly becoming a behemoth. The rapidly growing sunspot group is more than five times wider than Earth, making it an easy target for properly-filtered backyard telescopes. So far sunspot 978 poses little threat for strong solar flares, but this could change if the active region's development continues apace.