Video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory depicts the sunspot’s development over the course of 24 hours.
The AR3038 sunspot doubled in size between Sunday night and Monday morning. Now that it is facing Earth, there are worries that the Blue Planet could be hit by solar winds that are moving quickly. Additionally, a spectacular video taken on Sunday by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory demonstrates how the enormous sunspot has been changing.
Experts at Spaceweather.com explained: “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 solar flares are regarded as the second-strongest type and they do not pose any threat to people apart from interference with communication networks.
The sunspot’s quick evolution has attracted a lot of attention and made news in several national media outlets.
Sunspots are dark regions on the Sun’s surface that can emit huge waves of radiation.
They develop over magnetically active regions of the Sun, and occasionally these tangled magnetic fields can cause a solar flare.
Solar flares are enormous explosions that emanate from the Sun’s surface and release powerful electromagnetic radiation bursts.
Additionally, these have the ability to destabilize Earth if they come into contact with it.
Even if the Earth-facing sunspot hasn’t yet released a solar flare, our planet could yet be hit by an M-class flare.
The energy tangling, crossing, or rearranging of magnetic field lines close to sunspots results in solar flares, which are abrupt blasts of light and radiation. Solar flares have the potential to disrupt radio communications here on Earth if they are powerful enough.
The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is currently keeping an eye on the sunspot in case of solar flare rockets towards Earth, but it has not yet issued any alert, Solar flares don’t actually injure anyone, unlike solar storms, which can interfere with the Earth’s magnetic field and create some disruption.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is now monitoring the sunspot in case a solar flare shoots towards Earth, but so far has not issued any warnings.
Watch it here: Youtube/TRMG
Sources: Dailywire, Thetealmango, Techexplorist