http://spaceweather.com/
Solar activity is suddenly increasing. The biggest sunspots of the
year are crossing the solar disk; one group is longer than 10 Earth
diameters and poses a threat for solar flares. Meanwhile,
astronomers are monitoring a large and delightfully complex
prominence dancing long the sun's limb. Whether all this will
translate into magnetic storms and auroras remains to be
seen.
The biggest sunspot of the year is crossing the sun's disk, but
yesterday solar astronomers couldn't take their eyes off something
else--this spectacular prominence:
The plume collapsed shortly after Andy Dodson of New Zealand
photographed it. Before long, however, another should rise to take
its place. The sun is active at present and capable of producing
such vistas on a daily basis. Meanwhile, sunspot 865 poses a threat
for strong solar flares; an eruption could produce spectacular
vistas here on Earth.