The new sunspot marks the end of the sun's quiescent period and the beginning of a new surge of sunspot activity. The sun is a lot more interesting to study when things are going on.
Sunspots are relatively dark spots that typically appear in groups on the surface of the sun.
They are associated with strong magnetic fields and with solar flares, and follow an approximately 11-year cycle of increasing activity followed by a slow decline into a quiescent period. Early in the cycle, sunspots appear rarely and at relatively high solar latitudes around 30 to 35 degrees, then increase in frequency and appear at lower latitudes until they reach sunspot maximum. After this peak in activity, the number of sunspots slowly declines, and they appear ever closer to the sun's equator until they reach a relatively quiet phase called sunspot minimum. There is typically some overlap between successive sunspot cycles. As the last sunspots of one cycle appear near the equator, at latitudes of about 7 degrees, the next cycle starts again with sunspots near 30 degrees, but with the magnetic polarity of the new spots reversed.