However, solar eclipses are relatively rare events, and there is quite a number of interesting aspects of solar observing that are present nearly all of the time. The most obvious features on the sun's surface are sunspots. Sunspots vary in number, size, and location with the eleven year solar cycle, but at least a few are almost always visible. Amateurs with the patience for long term projects can take sunspot counts and compare their counts with the professionals'. Observers with a flair for drawing can record the infinitely varied appearance of sunspots at high magnification, and can note their changes over time.
Sunspots sometimes change noticeably over periods of several hours.
Often more detail can be captured in a drawing than in a photograph, because the human eye is not as easily confounded by atmospheric seeing conditions as is photographic film. During the day seeing is usually worse than at night. The best solar images will be seen in the late morning, after the sun has risen to a moderate height, but before most atmospheric turbulence has time to develop. A graphic plot of spot latitudes over the course of a cycle yields a plot resembling the wings of a butterfly. During periods of high solar activity, solar flares sometimes erupt on the sun's surface, usually in or very near to large sunspots.