http://spaceweather.com/Solar activity is suddenly increasing. The biggest sunspots of the year are crossing the solar disk; one group is longer than 10 Earth diameters and poses a threat for solar flares. Meanwhile, astronomers are monitoring a large and delightfully complex prominence dancing long the sun's limb. Whether all this will translate into magnetic storms and auroras remains to be seen.
The biggest sunspot of the year is crossing the sun's disk, but yesterday solar astronomers couldn't take their eyes off something else--this spectacular prominence:
The plume collapsed shortly after Andy Dodson of New Zealand photographed it. Before long, however, another should rise to take its place. The sun is active at present and capable of producing such vistas on a daily basis. Meanwhile, sunspot 865 poses a threat for strong solar flares; an eruption could produce spectacular vistas here on Earth.