It's solar max! Stare at the sun for 30 minutes, online, right here

By Deborah Netburn

Jan. 15, 2014 8 AM PT

You know how your mom told you to never stare at the sun or you’ll burn your eyeballs? Well, for 30 minutes on Wednesday morning, you can ignore her advice.

Beginning at 10 a.m. the website Slooh.com will be streaming a live feed of the sun from the Prescott Observatory in Arizona, and you can watch the show right here.

(Obviously, sun gazing is only safe on the computer, or with special glasses).

The show will revolve around a massive dark spot on the sun known as solar spot AR 1944. Last week, a massive X-class solar flare erupted from this area, causing enormous amounts of solar material to come hurtling toward Earth.

Concern about the resulting increase in radiation in near-space led engineers at Orbital Sciences Corp. to delay the launch of a rocket scheduled to carry supplies to the International Space Station on Jan. 8.

Solar spot AR 1944 was about 10 times the diameter of Earth when it first rotated into sight on Jan. 1. Slooh astronomers note that some smaller spots have appeared in the sun spot’s wake.

Happy, and safe, sun viewing!

Hey sunshine! Always listen to your mom, and follow me on Twitter for more like this.