Sunspots are dark, planet-sized regions that appear on the “surface” of the Sun. Space weather experts continuously keep an eye on sunspots. Recently, a giant sunspot was detected that doubled in size in the past 24 hours.
As reported, this sunspot- AR3038 – is now facing Earth. It means it could send a solar flare our way. Footage from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on Sunday shows how the sunspot has evolved over the past day, twisting and contorting.
Spaceweather.com noted, “Yesterday, sunspot AR3038 was big. Today, it’s enormous. The fast-growing sunspot has doubled in size in only 24 hours.”
“AR3038 has an unstable ‘beta-gamma’ magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares, and it is directly facing Earth.”
M-class flares are medium-sized; they generally cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare.