A giant sunspot, visible even from the surface of Mars, is now in position to face Earth. The sunspot, known as AR3576, spans more than 124,274 miles and has at least four dark cores larger than Earth, according to data from Spaceweather.com. It was photographed by NASA’s Perseverance Rover from the Martian surface last week. This sunspot is so massive that it can be seen from Earth without the use of complex viewing equipment.
Sunspots are dark, cooler regions on the surface of the sun that can give rise to eruptive disturbances such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which are large releases of plasma and magnetic field from the sun. The frequency and intensity of sunspots visible on the surface can be used to indicate the level of solar activity at any given time during the 11-year solar cycle driven by the sun’s magnetic field.
The massive sunspot AR3576 is already producing M-class solar flares, with forecasts indicating the possibility of X-class solar flares, the most powerful type. Solar flares are triggered by the build-up of magnetic energy in the solar atmosphere, released in an intense burst of electromagnetic radiation. These flares are classified by size into lettered groups, with X-class being the most powerful. Strong solar flares can also be accompanied by coronal mass ejections, which can disrupt the Earth’s magnetosphere, resulting in geomagnetic storms and creating stunning aurora displays.
Energetic solar flares and coronal mass ejections can be problematic for satellites in space and electronic technology on Earth. Thus, solar and space weather scientists closely monitor the sun’s activity. Organizations like NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center and the World Data Center for the Sunspot Index and Long-term Solar Observations track sunspots and assess threats daily. Additionally, NASA has a fleet of spacecraft called the Heliophysics Systems Observatory designed to study the sun’s influence on the solar system, including the effects of space weather.