A new sunspot is firing off solar eruptions and here's what it looks like on video

Our otherwise quiet sun had a stormy five-hour fiesta during the early hours of Tuesday (Oct. 26).

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded a series of eruptions on the limb of the sun, not facing the Earth. It's unclear from the angle of the explosions (relative to Earth) from where they emanated, but the space weather tracking site SpaceWeather.com suggested it would be a sunspot, or a dark concentration of magnetic activity on the sun's surface.

"At least half a dozen explosions occurred during that brief movie," SpaceWeather.com wrote in the report. "The blast site is hidden just behind the edge of the sun. It's almost certainly an unstable sunspot."

Scientists will get a better glimpse of the region when it rotates into the view of our Earth in roughly 24 to 48 hours, the report added. The sun's rotation varies by latitude because it is a large ball of gas, but it takes 24 Earth days to rotate at the equator and more than 30 days at the poles.

Related: Solar cycle: What is it and why does it matter?

This image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows an active solar region (visible at top-middle left) on the left limb of the sun as it rotated into view on Oct. 26, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams)

This year is towards the beginning of a new 11-year cycle of solar activity, which began in December 2019. The beginning of a cycle generally has fewer sunspots and fewer eruptions, and then those features increase as we reach the peak, which in this case is expected to be around mid-2025.

It's unclear exactly how strong this forthcoming solar cycle will be, although solar cycle 25 (the current cycle) has a general consensus among scientists that the average number of sunspots will be lower than usual: a range of 95 to 130 at peak, compared with a typical 140 to 220 sunspots.

NASA's SDO is one of a range of telescopes and spacecraft that gaze at the sun in an attempt to improve solar weather predictions. A strong flare aimed towards Earth, if it is accompanied by a stream of charged particles known as a coronal mass ejection, may induce problems such as shorting out satellites or damaging power lines.

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Elizabeth Howell
Staff Writer, Spaceflight

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