Will I be able to see sunspots on the sun if I have a telescope and filter?
The sun will be well-way from its maximum sunspot numbers during this cycle (Number 24) which peaked in 2013 with about 130 spots during the peak month. By August, 2017 the average number should be about 30 per month. Sunspot minimum will occur sometime in ca 2020 if the current trends continue. What this means is that there may be fewer large sunspots, and the ones you see before eclipse will be concentrated near the equatorial zone of the sun. As we get closer to the time of the eclipse, make sure you check with the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) page at http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/ to see what the sun looks like a day or so before the eclipse. That way you can identify any large ‘active regions’ before you try to search for them at your telescope!