Explanation:
Right now, one of the largest sunspot groups in recent history is crossing the Sun.
Active Region 3664
is not only big — it’s violent,
throwing off clouds of particles into the
Solar System.
Some of these
CMEs
are already impacting the Earth, and others might follow.
At the extreme, these solar storms could cause some
Earth-orbiting satellites to malfunction, the
Earth’s atmosphere
to slightly distort, and electrical power grids to surge.
When impacting
Earth’s upper atmosphere,
these particles can produce beautiful auroras, with some
auroras already being reported
unusually far south.
Pictured here,
AR3664 and its dark
sunspots
were captured yesterday in visible light from
Rome,
Italy.
The AR3664 sunspot group is so large that it is
visible just with glasses designed to
view last month’s
total solar eclipse.
This weekend, skygazing enthusiasts
will be keenly watching the night skies all over the globe for
bright and
unusual auroras.
Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240511.html