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Individual sunspots or groups of sunspots may last anywhere from a few days to a few months, but eventually decay. Sunspots expand and contract as they move across the surface of the Sun, with diameters ranging from 16 km (10 mi) [3] to 160,000 km (100,000 mi). [4] Larger sunspots can be visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope. [5]
The March 1989 geomagnetic storm knocked out power across large sections of Quebec, while the 2003 Halloween solar storms registered the most powerful solar explosions ever recorded. On 23 July 2012 , a "Carrington-class" solar superstorm (solar flare, CME, solar electromagnetic pulse ) was observed, but its trajectory narrowly missed Earth.
It caused the largest and most rapid rise in carbon-14 levels ever recorded. [33] 993–994 CE [34] [31] [35] It caused a carbon-14 spike visible in tree rings which was used to date Viking archaeological remains in L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland to 1021. [36] 1052 CE found in carbon-14 spike [37] 1279 CE found in carbon-14 spike [37]
The maximum smoothed sunspot number observed during the solar cycle was 180.3 (November 2001), and the starting minimum was 11.2. [4] During the minimum transit from solar cycle 23 to 24, there were a total of 817 days with no sunspots. [5] [6] [7] Compared to the last several solar cycles, it was fairly average in terms of activity.
Solar cycles are nearly periodic 11-year changes in the Sun's activity that are based on the number of sunspots present on the Sun's surface. The first solar cycle conventionally is said to have started in 1755. The source data are the revised International Sunspot Numbers (ISN v2.0), as available at SILSO. [1]
Radio disruption occurred across North and South America.
A massive sunspot that caused last month’s intense auroras across large portions of the planet is once again returning to face the Earth.. The AR3723 sunspot, which was formerly known as AR3697 ...
Four solar flares occurred within 5 days from sunspot AR 12192, which is both the largest sunspot of solar cycle 24 and the largest since 1990. On October 19 there was a major X1.1-class solar flare. On October 22 an M8.7-class flare was followed by an X1.6 event. The October 24 X3.1-class solar flare was strong enough to trigger a radio blackout.