The “cosmic gun” that caused radio waves to flicker around the world two weeks ago has now significantly grown, continuing to pose a threatening position to Earth.
According to Space, space observations indicate that the Sunspot AR3310 has now reached a size four times that of Earth, so large that it can be seen as a “hole” on the sun with the naked eye – of course, with a safe filter.
The sunspot is where the sun’s magnetic field experiences certain disturbances, turning it into a continuous gunfire of high-energy flares and fireballs known as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).
This graphic shows AR3310 – the sunspot on the lower half of the star – with a size overshadowing Earth placed directly below – (Photo: Bum-Suk Yeom)
Earth will be affected by these flares and fireballs when the sunspot faces us.
These energy projectiles, when colliding with the magnetic field lines of Earth’s magnetosphere, will create what is known as geomagnetic storms (solar storms), leading to beautiful auroras but also causing damage to electrical grids, radio systems, positioning, and even having the potential to knock satellites back down to Earth.
The SpaceX corporation (USA) experienced such an incident in February 2022 when a geomagnetic storm caused 40 Starlink satellites to fall out of orbit.
AR3310 has been responsible for geomagnetic storms since May 16, even before it was properly facing Earth.
The geomagnetic storms caused by it and its “companion” AR3311 have continuously disrupted radio waves in many areas around the planet in the subsequent days, but fortunately, these were only short events with no significant damage.
Currently, the sunspot is located at the edge of the sun, preparing to move away from Earth and is impressively larger than when it first appeared.
Korean astronomer Bum-Suk Yeom created a graphic showing that the area of this sunspot is four times the cross-sectional area of Earth.
To observe it with the naked eye, you will need a special pair of glasses – the type commonly used for solar observations – to block the extremely strong UV rays from the sun that can harm your eyes; or you may use specialized solar viewing binoculars.
