Lot's of sunspots! Big chance for major flare activity?
Monday, 22 April 2024 21:58 UTC
Our Sun is peppered with numbered sunspot regions at the moment... 18 to be precise! This adds up to a sunspot number of 283 which is very high.
Sunspot region 3646 is currently facing Earth and one of the more complex regions on the disk. This region along with sunspot region 3645 and 3656 have been the source of multiple low-level M-class solar flares today but none of them were eruptive. Do keep an eye on our nearest star for further spot development, especially in earth-facing sunspot region 3646 as this would be the most likely candidate to produce an earth-directed CME in the days ahead. However, we do need to see more spot development in this region before solar flares reaching the M5 threshold or higher will be possible. While there are many numbered sunspot regions on the disk, most of them are unremarkable and there is a low chance for major flare activity right now.
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| Last X-flare | 2024/05/03 | X1.6 |
| Last M-flare | 2024/05/03 | M4.4 |
| Last geomagnetic storm | 2024/05/02 | Kp7- (G3) |
| Spotless days | |
|---|---|
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| Monthly mean Sunspot Number | |
|---|---|
| April 2024 | 136.5 +31.6 |
| Last 30 days | 149.4 +51.8 |