A giant sunspot the size of 3 Earths is facing us right now
The fast-growing sunspot doubled in size in 24 hours and may produce medium-class flares.
A sunspot nearly triple the size of Earth is within firing range of our planet, and may send out medium-class flares in the near future.
"Yesterday, sunspot AR3038 was big. Today, it's enormous," Tony Phillips, the author of SpaceWeather.com, wrote on Wednesday (June 22).
"The fast-growing sunspot has doubled in size in only 24 hours," Phillips added, noting that the magnetic field surrounding it has the potential to blast M-class solar flares toward our planet.
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Should the sunspot blast out a coronal mass ejection, or CME, of charged particles that faces our planet, it's possible those particles will interact with our magnetic field and create colorful lights in our atmosphere, known as auroras.
However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Space Weather Prediction Center, which monitors solar flares and other outbursts, has not issued any current aurora alerts for Earth.
The sun has been particularly active this spring, sending out many M-class and X-class (the strongest class) flares as activity grows in the regular 11-year cycle of sunspots.
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Typically, CMEs are harmless, perhaps producing brief radio blackouts along with the colorful auroras. On rare occasions, CMEs can disturb essential infrastructure like satellites or power lines, however.
That's why both NASA and NOAA monitor the sun all the time. Additionally, NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission is flying very close to the sun periodically to learn more about the origins of sunspots and to better understand the space weather the sun creates.
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Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace