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.
The super-active sunspot responsible for unleashing the three most powerful solar flares of 2013 within a 24-hour stretch this week is slowly rotating toward Earth and will likely be facing our planet by the weekend, experts say.
Active Region 1748, as the sunspot is known, unleashed three monster solar flares between Sunday and Monday (May 12 to 13). Every one of the solar storms registered as an X-class flare — the most powerful type — with each successive event stronger than the last, culminating in an X3.2 megablast Monday night
Serial Number: 187 Issue Time: 2013 May 13 0206 UTC
ALERT: X-Ray Flux exceeded M5 Threshold Reached: 2013 May 13 0204 UTC NOAA Scale: R2 - Moderate Potential Impacts: Area of impact centered on sub-solar point on the sunlit side of Earth. Extent of blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication dependent upon current X-ray Flux intensity.
For real-time information on affected area and expected duration please see
A giant sunspot that's at least six times the diameter of Earth has formed on the sun in less than 48 hours, according to NASA.Sunspots form when the sun's magnetic fields rearrange and realign. They tend to be unstable and can lead to solar flares.
According to a news release, scientists from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory watched the sunspot rapidly grow on February 19 and 20. The agency says it could even be larger than six times the diameter of Earth "since the spot lies on a sphere not a flat disk."
NASA reports that a huge X1.4 class flare erupted from the center of the sun on July 12, 2012, at 10 a.m. PDT, which erupted from a part of the sun known as Active Region 1520.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has released this incredible image of the enormous flare, which could well interfere with radio and navigation systems on Earth.
