EarthSky.org, 7/7/13, Deborah Byrd
One of the biggest sunspot groups of Solar Cycle 24 emerged near the sun’s southeastern limb several days ago and since then as been stretching and lengthening. It is now more than 11 times as wide as Earth, according to spaceweather.com, which also said:
These sunspots are a sign that the sun’s southern hemisphere is waking up. For most of the current solar cycle, the northern half of the sun has dominated sunspot counts and flare production. The south has been lagging behind–until now. June brought a surge in southern sunspots, and the trend is continuing in July. This “southern awakening” could herald a double-peaked Solar Maximum due in late 2013-early 2014.
