Big sunspot, chance of flares.

     I get my TV off of satellite, so I pay attention to space weather.

Sunspot AR1726 has developed a 'delta class' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong eruptions. This has prompted NOAA forecasters to up the odds of M-class flares to 40% and X-class flares to 15% within the next 24 hours. Because of the sunspot's almost-central location on the solar disk, any eruptions today would likely be Earth-directed.

 

The sunspot is more than a dozen times wider than Earth, which makes it an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. Amateur astronomer Dennis Simmons sends this picture, taken April 22nd, from Brisbane, Qld, Australia:

 

The resolution was fine enough to show not only the sunspot's planet-sized dark cores, but also thousands of smaller granules surrounding the active region. Granules are evidence of boiling on a titanic scale. The upper layers of the sun sit atop a 15-million degree nuclear furnace, and they boil much like water on a hot stove. Granules are akin to the roiling bubbles you see in a pan of boiling water, a million times amplified: Solar granules are as wide as Alaska.

 

        What follows is another image from SpaceWeather.com of today's sun.