Hi Lindsey.
We think sunspots are the result of bundles of magnetic field which come up to the solar surface from deeper inside the sun. New ones can pop up any time and they last for days or even months. Unmans have observed sunspots for a long time (see http://www.windows.ucar.e...unspot_history.html) and we think they have probably been on the Sun for most of its life, although there do seem to have been periods when there have been very few sunspots (we don't know why). Normally the number of sunspots goes up and down about every 11 years.

Cheers,
Terry