Huge ‘sunspot archipelago’ 15 times wider than Earth is spotted on the Sun – and scientists warn it could bombard our planet with solar flares capable of causing devastating blackouts

They look like little peppercorns on a tasty egg yolk, or an ‘archipelago’: a large group of islands on a distant yellow planet.

But NASA’s latest set of photos actually shows a cluster of ‘sunspots’: cooler areas on the Sun’s surface caused by massive changes in our star’s magnetic field.

The images were taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which has been monitoring the sun from space for more than a decade.

Although they look small in the images, the ‘archipelago’ of sunspots together is actually wider than fifteen Earths – about 200,000 kilometers in diameter.

Scientists warn they could shoot violent energy explosions toward Earth, creating geomagnetic storms that threaten power grids and satellites.

This 24-hour movie from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the sunspots on November 18

Sunspots appear dark on the surface of the sun because they are cooler than other parts (although they are still very hot, around 6500°F).

These planet-sized black spots are associated with solar flares and coronal mass ejections – gigantic and violent explosions of energy from the sun collectively described as solar storms.

Solar flares and CMEs are major concerns of astronomers due to concerns that they cause space weather events that impact Earth.

Huge clouds of electrified gas ejected into space by these events travel at hundreds of kilometers per second and hit Earth’s magnetic field.

This can affect technologies on our planet, such as electricity grids, communications, GPS navigation, air travel and satellites, but also causes beautiful auroras.

According to Space weatherwhich routinely tracks interactions between the Sun and Earth, this sunspot group was predicted before the Solar Dynamics Observatory captured it.

“The sunspot group is so large that it affects the way the entire Sun vibrates,” the report said.

‘Helioseismologists used the vibrations to detect this sunspot group while it was still on the far side of the Sun.

‘Their latest seismic maps confirm that we haven’t seen everything yet; part of the group is still around the edge of the sun.’

According to Earthsky.org, the strongest two types of solar flares – M and X – could be aimed at Earth in the coming days.

M flares can cause short-lived radio blackouts affecting Earth’s polar regions and small radiation storms, while X flares can cause “planet-wide radio blackouts” and long-lasting radiation storms.

Chris Wicklund, a meteorologist based in Minnesota, said the sunspots are “flaring consistently” and that the next few weeks “could be very interesting” as particles arrive on Earth.

In a X (Twitter) messagehe called it “probably the largest sunspot area I’ve seen so far” during the current solar cycle.

The solar cycle is the cycle that the sun’s magnetic field goes through approximately every eleven years before it completely reverses and the sun’s north and south poles switch places.

The current solar cycle, number 25, began in 2019 and is expected to continue until about 2030.

As the sun’s magnetic fields change, so does the amount of activity on our star’s surface, NASA said.

The beginning of a solar cycle (the solar minimum) is when the Sun has the fewest sunspots, but over time solar activity and the number of sunspots increases (the solar maximum).

Although the otherwise violent surface of the Sun takes on a calmer and almost idyllic appearance during solar minimum, this lull can also lead to solar storms.

Solar storms during this solar minimum still occur due to the occurrence of solar flares – explosions on the Sun that release energy stored in ‘twisted’ magnetic fields.