Galileo is famous for being the first person to use a telescope to view sunspots, but he wasn't the first person ever to observe sunspots. Although it is not advisable due to risk of damage to your eyes, it is possible to observe large sunspots without a telescope when the sun is partially obscured by clouds or fog. Chinese astronomers-astrologers kept records of sunspots as early as 800 BC. There are also records of people in ancient Korea and ancient Greece observing sunspots hundreds of years before Galileo. You can read more information at http://galileo.rice.edu/s...ations/sunspots.html and http://www.windows2univer...unspot_history.html. -Nancy