<\/p>\n The sunspot, called region 4366, appeared suddenly several days ago and has rapidly grown to roughly half the size<\/a> of the infamous Carrington Event sunspot<\/a>, which, in September 1859, fired a flare that triggered the most destructive geomagnetic storm in recorded history. This swift growth has left sunspot 4366 highly unstable; in a 24-hour period between Sunday and Monday, the region erupted with more than 20 solar flares, including at least 23 M-class flares and four X-class flares, the strongest category of solar flare<\/a>, according to NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n This barrage of activity peaked Sunday around 6:57 pm EST, when the sunspot launched a strong X8.1 solar flare, according to the SWPC. This was the single strongest solar flare since October 2024, when the sun launched an X9.0 outburst<\/a>.<\/p>\n The recent X-class flare immediately triggered partial radio blackouts in the South Pacific, according to Spaceweather.com<\/a>, and fired a slower-moving blast of plasma called a coronal mass ejection (CME) in Earth’s direction. The SWPC predicts that this CME will just miss Earth when it passes by on Feb. 5, but a glancing blow could be possible.<\/p>\n If the CME does clip our planet, charged solar particles will race toward Earth’s magnetic poles, resulting in bright auroras.<\/p>\n The sun “wakes up”<\/p>\n \n NOAA released this alert following the flare’s eruption. (Image credit: NOAA)<\/p>\n Sunspots are vast, dark regions<\/a> of magnetic instability that form in the sun’s lower atmosphere. When the magnetic-field lines near these regions become too tangled, they may violently snap back into alignment, triggering solar flares and CMEs.<\/p>\n Sunspot activity peaks every 11 years, when the sun’s magnetic poles flip places during a period called solar maximum. The frequency and intensity of solar flares and CMEs also peak during this turbulent time.<\/p>\n In 2024, NASA<\/a> confirmed that solar maximum was well underway<\/a>, with violent space weather likely to remain high through 2026. This could result in extremely rare and widespread auroral displays, like those observed in May 2024, when a monster CME pushed the northern lights as far south as Florida. The sunspot responsible for that storm lingered on the sun for more than three months, firing off nearly 1,000 solar flares<\/a> in its lifetime, a recent study found<\/a>.<\/p>\n Intense solar radiation storms can also have adverse consequences, such as radio blackouts, GPS disruptions<\/a>, and damage to satellites and spacecraft<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"NOAA's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GDMvJTnCnapv8N664mqAra.png\")
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