Sunspots nearly three times the size of Earth are within shooting range of our planet. This spot could send out a moderate-to-severe solar flare in the near future.
"Yesterday, the AR3038 sunspot was huge. Today, it's even bigger, really big," said Tony Phillips, author of SpaceWeather.com.
"Sunspots grow fast and multiply in just 24 hours," Phillips added. He noted that the surrounding magnetic field has the potential to blast an M-class Sun flare toward our planet.
Quoted from Space.com, if a sunspot explodes a coronal mass ejection (CME), a charged particle facing our planet, it is possible that the particle will interact with Earth's magnetic field and create colorful lights in the atmosphere known as auroras.
But don't worry, so far the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Space Weather Prediction Center, which monitors solar flares and other explosions, has not issued a warning for Earth.
The sun is noted to be particularly active this spring, sending out numerous M and X class (strongest class) flares as activity grows in a regular 11-year sunspot cycle.
Usually, CME is harmless. Usually, the effect is a short blackout of radio waves and the appearance of colorful aurorae. However, there are times when the high intensity of the CME can disrupt critical infrastructure such as satellites or power lines.
That's why NASA and NOAA monitor the Sun around the clock. In addition, NASA's Parker Solar Probe mission, which flies very close to the Sun's surface, periodically learns more about the origin of sunspots and to better understand the extraterrestrial weather that the Sun creates.