A RARE GATHERING OF SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS: All month long, NOAA and SOHO coronagraphs have been watching a very rare event. Mars, Venus and Mercury have gathered near the sun for a multi-planet solar conjunction. On Jan. 18th, "rare" became "unprecedented" when the Moon joined the planets and eclipsed Mars.

QUIET WEEKEND: The sun is peppered with spots--at least 9 sunspot groups). Nevertheless, solar activity is expected to be low this weekend. All of those sunspots have stable magnetic fields that are unlikely to explode.