Enormous Sunspot, Raises Concerns , After Rapidly Doubling in Size.<br />'Newsweek' reports that a massive, earth-facing sunspot has doubled in size over 24 hours and has raised <br />concerns about a potential earth-bound solar flare.<br />Sunspots form over areas of the sun <br />where strong magnetic fields exist. .<br />These tangled magnetic fields can suddenly <br />reorganize themselves, releasing an explosion <br />of light and radiation in the form of a solar flare.<br />On June 20, NASA's Solar Dynamics <br />Observatory revealed how the sunspot <br />had significantly grown over the course of a day.<br />'Newsweek' reports that the massive sunspot has the potential to send an M-class solar flare at Earth.<br />As of June 21, the National Oceanic <br />and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather <br />Prediction Center had not yet issued a solar flare warning.<br />Solar flares can interfere with <br />radio communications networks <br />and navigation systems on Earth.<br />M-class flares are actually quite common <br />and tend to cause moderate, short-lasting <br />radio blackout events.<br />X-class flares are the strongest type of solar flare and only occur about once every 11 years.<br />An X20 flare would be capable of causing <br />a total high-frequency radio blackout for several <br />hours on the sun-facing side of Earth.
