The Sun: Abundant Sunspot Activity | NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

The Sun: Abundant Sunspot Activity | NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

An abundance of sunspot groups are present on the visible solar disk—at least 12 active regions. Sunspots are areas that appear dark on the surface of the Sun. They appear dark because they are cooler than other parts of the Sun’s surface. Solar flares are a sudden explosion of energy caused by tangling, crossing, or reorganizing of magnetic field lines near sunspots. The southern solar hemisphere has the most and largest sunspot complexes at this time, to include the most likely flare sources: Regions 3738, 3743, and 3751. Region 3738 is the most magnetically complex, but growth has slowed and it will rotate out to the western solar limb by Wednesday, July 17, 2024.

R1-R2 (Minor-Moderate) solar flares remain likely between July 15-18, 2024.  

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured these images of sunspot activity on July 13, 2024. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

To see how such space weather may affect Earth, please visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center: https://spaceweather.gov

NOAA is the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts.

NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.

Image Credit: NASA/SDO

Release Date: July 14, 2024

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