Sunspots are really cool, look at this:
That black smudge is actually a sunspot! Our professor told us to not look into the lens, because the concentrated sun would literally burn a hole through your eye. By projecting the image from the lens further back, we can safely see the sun without going blind. We tried setting some paper on fire, but the sun was still too low in the sky for that to happen.
And this is the beautiful 12in telescope we used to see the sun through. We’ve seen Venus and Jupiter through this as well! A couple pieces of mirror, and we humans are able to see the heavens. Amazing, that.
-Sophie